Soul Bound
by Talamut
Summary: AU. There are worse prices to pay for what he wanted. Sometimes, those prices are the better choice.-Title changed
1. Prologue: Sandiame

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist

PROLOGUE

If anyone asked Sandiame when this could have possibly started, he would look at them and tell them of a time eight years after the Kyuubi attack, that the Anbu lost track of the child, Uzumaki Naruto.

It had started innocently enough. The Anbu would "accidentally" lose track of the child for a few hours, and then _miraculously_ find him later on. But his time it was different. This time, this child had outwitted them and run off.

How you might ask. Simple. It was because of the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi was able to mask Naruto's chakra enough to appear that he was still asleep in his apartment.

None of them, not even Sandiame, knew what the motivation was behind this. Sure there were the villagers and their constant glares at the poor boy. But the way Naruto carried on, you would know that he wasn't even affected by them.

Anyway, Naruto had just seemed to disappear for a day. It left the old Hokage extremely worried, and he would later regret to say, not just for the boy's well being, but also for the village if someone should get his hands on the Kyuubi vessel.

It was around noon the next day that the Anbu squad finally caught sight of the child. He was seen wandering through one of the more abandoned streets, seemingly heading in no specific direction.

When he was brought before the Hokage, Naruto only managed to say a few words before he completely fell out of consciousness.

"..I-I wanted…to bring…him back. ..I didn't want…that to happen. My fault…. It was…equivalent exchange."


	2. Prologue 2: Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my ideas

Prologue 2: Naruto

Even before that fateful day had occurred, Naruto had planned it all out. If asked he would say it probably started when he was around five years old. That was the age he first remembered talking to Kyuubi and blaming himself for what happened. Though Kyuubi himself had helped to put this blame in Naruto's mind.

When he first talked to Kyuubi, the fox had told him that it was Naruto's own fault that the Yondiame, Kazuma Arashi, had died. Being the young and naïve child he was, Naruto fully accepted this blame. Now he knew why the villagers hated him so.

This was the first part of the Kyuubi's plan.

The second was _confiding _in the boy a secret way to revive the dead, The Kyuubi went so far as to promise that nothing would go wrong, because he would help Naruto through each and every step.

This lost art was called alchemy. It was practiced long ago, but lost its use as people learned to use jutsu. It took a vast amount of knowledge to work and took a transmutation circle to work. This took time that many _shinobi_ didn't have during times of war and strife.

For the next few years, Kyuubi would teach Naruto the lost art of alchemy at night when he was asleep. During the day, Naruto would continue reading up on different sciences. Even though human transmutation involved only the knowledge of biology, Kyuubi demanded that he learn different sciences, especially those dealing with fire and earth.

When Naruto turned seven there was a serious damper in their plans. The Hokage wanted him to join the Ninja Academy. At first Naruto strongly refused, saying that he didn't want to be a ninja. The Hokage kept asking and eventually Naruto agreed just to stop him from becoming suspicious.

Because of Naruto's constant studying of Alchemy, he failed to pay attention in class and failed practically all the testes given to him. During the classes, Naruto would go into the recesses of his mind to talk to the Kyuubi and review what he had learned. Of course, on the outside it looked like he was sleeping in class and this caused him to be given the nickname of Dead-last.

By the end of the first year of classes, Naruto knew that it was almost time to put the plan into action. The only problem in their way was the fact that Sandiame might have Anbu following him. And he was right. Fortunately for him, Kyuubi had thought this through further and began teaching Naruto the jutsu, Kage Bunshin. He regulated enough chakra to lead the Anbu (as if they were really watching) to believe that he was still asleep in bed.

He had been able to collect the necessary ingredients over the time in school. He had set aside money from the fund that the Hokage gave him just for that. Naruto almost laughed a couple of times at the knowledge that the normal human body only cost a child's allowance.

Naruto, at Kyuubi's advice, set up the transmutation circle out in a cave that they had found while running from drunken villagers. Funny, he had thought, how the villagers would unknowingly help him.

It was almost morning by the time he had started the transmutation. All he thought as he activated the transmutation circle at the time was to be able to Yondiame's face…..his father's face.

And he pushed more energy into the circle into the circle, willing the ingredients to take form. In his excitement he didn't hear the quiet cackling in the back of his mind. He didn't even register that anything was wrong until a darker, almost evil light began to wash out the lighter transmutation lights.

And he finally heard the now louder laughter as his world went black.

"What have I done?..."

* * *

Just wanted to get that out of the way. Long prologue.

Please review if you like. I have it (sorta) planned out, but if you have ideas, I'll be more than happy to read. Also any questions, I will try to answer.

Next Chapter:

Naruto finds the true meaning of Equivalent Exchange. What does Kyuubi want him to give up? Was this his plan all along?


	3. to the Gate

I'm aware of some of the mistakes in the previous chapters, but because I am an idiot when it comes to computers, I don't really know how to fix it. ;

On another note, don't worry, I will be adding speaking parts (as you will read in this chapter) that was just for the prologue. If anyone is confused, just write me. Enjoy

Disclaimer: You get the general idea. I don't own anything

Chapter 1

Everything surrounding him was pure white. There was absolutely nothing or no one. Save for the giant door. Or was it a gate? Naruto didn't really care.

"OI!" he yelled into the void "KYUUBI! ANYONE THERE?"

_Nope…no one there. Great, just great, where the hell am I?_

"You're by the Gate" someone answered.

Naruto swerved around away from the "Gate". An outline of a person was sitting just a few feet away from him.

"Never heard of it" he said "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm not surprised" It said "I haven't been visited in ages. Even though I don't really have a concept of time, it can get really boring here. Besides only those who try human transmutations ever come here before they die."

"Fine, but who are you?" he asked

"Glad you asked" the outline began "I am what most people refer to as the world, or the universe, or God, or true knowledge, but most of all I am you. Welcome fool, to the Gate."

Right as the outline said this, Naruto heard the gate behind him open. Many black cord-like things began to wrap around him and pull him through the gate. He could do nothing to get the little hands off of him. His eyes were forced open as, what seemed to be knowledge, was crammed into his mind.

But he could feel those black hands still on his body, seemingly looking for something. It was painful, between the information being stuffed in his head and the hands, but as he looked forward, he could see the figure of a man.

This man seemed strangely familiar, so Naruto tried to reach out to him. Just as he was about to grab the man's hand, he was pulled away and ended up back outside the Gate.

"Let me back in, that was Dad!" he demanded as he pounded no the Gate. "That was his soul"

"I gave you a look at ultimate knowledge, so now we need to figure out an equivalent exchange." The outline said, as it stood up "Kyuubi-sama gave me a request on what to do, and it sounded like a good idea. Yes… that's what I'm, going to take."

"K-kyubbi?" Naruto stuttered out. "What did he say? What does he have to do with this?"

"My dear boy" the outline cackled, "If it wasn't for Kyuubi, you would have been long dead. Not only am I letting you live, had I given you a look at true knowledge, not to mention the little surprise you'll get from Kyuubi's part of the deal. Have fun."

And then all Naruto knew was pain. It felt like his insides were being ripped to shreds. Something was being torn, but he couldn't figure out what. Then once again darkness consumed him, as he felt himself back on the cave's floor

Hooray, I got another chapter done. What can I say; the plot bunnies just attacked me today.

Next Chapter:

What was the price? Kyuubi's explanation…


	4. Explainations in the Dark

I'm aware that my chapters are short. But don't worry; I'm planning on making the chapters longer. Like I said, I just wanted to get the prologue's out of the way. It's kind of like a time jump, so the real story will start when Naruto's 12.

I also have some plans, one of which will involve spark gloves (like Roy's) that should be fun. But in a later chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Chapter 2

_Drip_

_Drip_

_grrr… _

'_wha?' _The familiar drip was the only thing to fill his ear as he seemed to regain consciousness.That and a low rumbling sound. As Naruto opened his eyes, he realized exactly where he was. It was the Kyuubi's hall.

Naruto picked himself off of the wet ground and made to follow the grumbling. He had been here often enough to know where he was going. This was the place he learned alchemy and trained with the Kyuubi.

Coming across one of the familiar doorways, he turned towards the loudening growl. After a few moments of walking he stood a few feet away from the sealed door. But he noticed a problem. The seal itself was half burnt. It was still there, but it seemed like a fire had started to burn away at it, but had stopped.

"**I had to rely on the back up. It wasn't all according to plan but at least I got something out of it" **A voice interrupted his thoughts, Kyuubi's voice.

"YOU PLANNED THIS! YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!" Naruto screamed. He felt betrayed. He had trusted the fox with his life and he truly felt betrayed.

"**Not exactly, kid" **Kyuubi said "**I did this to help the both of us. I wanted you to meet the gate. I was hoping that the gate keeper could release me and send me back to my realm, but It didn't want to do it. It said it was equivalent exchange for what I wanted it to do for you."**

"Equivalent…exchange…" Naruto murmured "Oh yea! What happened? What did I give up?"

"**You are quite lucky. I have seen true geniuses try to go to the gate. Some lost their lives, and some lost limbs. For example, I remember hearing about two brothers who tried to revive someone, their mom I think. The older lost his leg and the younger lost his whole body. The elder actually sacrificed his right arm to attach the soul of the younger onto a piece of armor. Unfortunately I don't remember what exactly happened to them."**

Naruto couldn't help but flinch at the thought of losing an arm or leg. If he did, his life would be ruined. He wouldn't be able to live or get a job to get by. He felt bad for the two brothers, but felt thankful that it didn't happen to him. But that made him all the more curious (and apprehensive) to what he had given up to the Gate.

"What exactly did **I **lose?"

"**Once again, you're lucky, kid. Some might consider the price a little too much, but it comes with a great consequence. This was why I asked the gate keeper if he would use it as the price. Not to mention I gave him a little of my chakra to even it out. The price my young friend … was your soul."**

Naruto could have sworn he felt his heart stop. "M-my soul?" he asked, he eyes portraying a hopeful disbelief. He put on a half hearted grin, at the thought that the fox was just playing around, "That's not possible, I'm still alive… I think."

"**Idiot. The soul doesn't keep you alive. Besides, the price was only half of your soul to be exact. If you lost all your soul you wouldn't be able to use alchemy. This is why I'm thankful the Gate keeper took my request."**

"Only half. Wait; does that make me a monster? Am I still human? Can I still be human without my soul" Naruto asked all these question more to himself than to the fox.

The fox demon only sighed at his vessels panic. _**Really**_ he thought to himself, **_that isn't such a bad price, AND it had great perks that came with it. This was actually my back up plan. If I couldn't escape from here, then I should at least have a longer life on the mortal plane._**

"**Kid, let me explain. Because you still have part of your soul, you could still consider yourself human, but in truth you are better than human. Back in the older ages, when people used to use alchemy in abundance, people tried to do what you did. There were also cases when creatures such as what you have become, also roamed the mortal realm. You are what you would call a… homunculus."**

"Homunculus? I remember reading something about them" Naruto said. He had calmed down after Kyuubi's explanation, but was still a little nervous about the answer. "But I forget what they are."

"**Homunculi are an artificial human. They are created whenever some one tries human transmutation. Though it can take ages for them to actually take a form, especially if they aren't given any red stones." **Kyuubi added that last sentence as a whisper, but Naruto still caught it.

"Red stone? But I didn't have any red stone. How do I still have a body then?" he asked

"**You already had a body; the soul was just removed from it. You also have my body's chakra to keep its form."**

"If I still have a human form, how am I different from regular humans?" Naruto asked

"**Simple really, because you are artificial, you can't die from regular wounds. And with my chakra also working to heal you, you could even cut off your hand and it will grow back. You're practically immortal. And like I have also said, because you still have part of your soul you can still use alchemy. Your senses should also be boosted, but I'm not entirely sure."**

Naruto tried to swallow the information the best he could, but his head wouldn't allow it. It had already started pounding with a headache. Finding out your practically immortal could do that to a person.

"**You've been asleep for almost a whole day. It would be better to get back to the village before they send a search squad"** Naruto simply nodded his head and prepared to leave his subconscious. "**One last thing. When you wake up DO NOT look at what you created. The last thing I need is for you to have more mental image. And don't tell anyone about this, not even the old Hokage.**

And as these words were said, Naruto felt his mind lift back into the world. In fact as soon as he felt his consciousness came back to him, he also felt a wave of nausea and pain. He could also here a slight gasping sound coming from behind him. As he was about to turn around, the Kyuubi's word came back to his mind.

Without even looking where he was going, Naruto stumbled out of the cave and headed to, hopefully, Konoha Village. He didn't care if the Anbu or the Third yelled at him. What was important was getting away from the cave, and getting back to his apartment. He was tired, more tired than he had ever felt in all his short years. All he wanted to do was go into his bed and sleep, even though he slept for a day already.

As he dragged his feet through the street, he was thinking of all he had done and what he had become. He didn't want his life to change any more, except to receive some positive acknowledgement. It was then that the Anbu had come. He gazed dazedly up at them, and one came and picked him up.

Still trying not to fall asleep, he realized that they had brought him to the Hokage's office. The Third seemed truly concerned and asked where he had been. Naruto wanted to tell him what he had done, but once again the foxes warning came to mind. Naruto only told him a small tidbit of what had happened. It couldn't even be called information.

As sleep overcame him Naruto's only thought was '_I don't want him t see me as a monster, even though I am. Even if I wasn't a homunculus, what I did could never be forgiven.'

* * *

_

Longer Chapter. I'm happier with this chapter than the others.

Next chapter should be on current time, were the story actually begins. On a quick rundown, Naruto became a homunculus. No one should be able to tell though, seeing as he doesn't go on life threatening missions as a 8 year old.

Please review. Any concerns or confusions will be dealt with.


	5. the genin exam

3 guesses who the brothers that were mentioned in the previous chapter were.

As you can hopefully tell, this happens after the Fullmetal Alchemist canon story.

I would also like to establish the fact that the story now will take place when Naruto and company are around 12 and at the genin exams. I'm going to get the whole Mizuki arc out of the way quickly to get to the team 7 stuff. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story

Chapter 3:

Adjusting wasn't as hard as Naruto would have originally of thought. Days went on as they were supposed to, as well as the Academy. The only possible problem that he could have faced would be age. How could you explain a child staying the same age, when the rest of the class was growing up? Kyuubi had thought up a simple solution to this a little while after the whole transmutation ordeal.

The solution dealt with Naruto's cells. Kyuubi would send chakra to allow Naruto's cells to grow as they were supposed to. Albeit, he was always a little short for his age. (coughEdwardcough) When he reached the age of maximum strength, Kyuubi would simply stop stimulating his growth cells, keeping him at that age. As far as anyone else was concerned, Naruto was just a normal kid.

Naruto still spent a lot of his time figuring ways to use alchemy in an offensive battle. He had sworn to himself and to Kyuubi that these tactics would only be used in case of emergency. He had grown a special affinity for fire and explosions. One could go so far as to call him a pyromaniac. Even without alchemy, he would often resort to setting some of the villagers', who had made him particularly angry, clothing on fire.

A few days before the genin exam would take place, Kyuubi had instructed him on how to make a certain fabric that would ignite would pushed against itself fast enough. Naruto took his time and crafted a set of gloves out of this cloth. He also added on a certain transmutation circle, so that when he made an ignition flame, he could control it. He definitely couldn't wait to try them out.

It was finally time for the genin exam. Over the years, he still hadn't improved that much. To tell the truth he wasn't even trying that hard. When ever he was called on to do one of the techniques they were learning, he couldn't do it. He understood the theory behind it, nut it was as if his chakra paths were being blocked. He couldn't squeeze out the small amount of chakra needed to do the technique.

He attributed it to him losing part of himself. Naruto knew he could still use chakra, and in great abundance. He just couldn't use it in small amounts. He had often tried various jutsu's, including some jounin one's.

'_Oh well'_ he thought as he walked into the Academy classroom '_I'm gonna work to pass. I just can't use so little chakra at a time. Maybe if I…'_

His thoughts were interrupted as his teacher, Iruka, called for the class's attention.

"Listen up. When we call your name, just step in here and do what we ask. If you pass, take your forehead protector and you can leave." Iruka said.

And so the test began.

* * *

Waiting seemed to take an eternity. That was one of the downfalls of having a last name that started with a U. There were only 3 left, including him, the Uchiha boy, the Yamanaka (sp?) girl.

When the Uchiha was called he walked by without so much a glance at the remaining students.

'_What a cold bastard. I never did like him'_

"Hey you" a feminine voice said "do you really think you'll pass?"

"Of course" he answered "why wouldn't I?"

"Because, you never do any actual work, do nothing but play pranks, and frankly, you suck at anything we do" she said

'_Oh… harsh'_ "Well don't worry your pretty little head about me" he said, smirking as he saw a slight blush creeping up on the girls face.

"I-I wasn't… I just…GAH! Forget it, don't even talk to me!" she raged.

He laughed to himself about their little conversation as he got up to go into the room. His name had just been called and it wouldn't help his grade if he kept the teachers waiting.

It was two judges, he noticed as he walked though the door. Iruka and the other teacher he didn't talk to much. Mizuki, if he remembered correctly. He always had a bad feeling even if the teacher didn't give him reason to.

* * *

"Now Naruto, all you need to do to pass is to create 3 bunshins." Iruka stated

Naruto put his hands in the familiar tiger seal and prepared to gather chakra to the rest of his body. Just as he was about to perform the jutsu, a strange pain seemed to gather around him. It clotted around his chakra pathways and blocked the necessary chakra for the technique. The result… was a dead looking clone… if it could even be called that. It looked nothing like him, sans the three whisker like markings on each cheek. This was not good.

"You fail" Iruka stated evenly

You could almost hear Naruto's world crash around him

"He did manage to create one clone, Iruka. Can't we just pass him for that?" Mizuki asked. Que angels singing…

"No. You know the rules Mizuki. A student must be able to create 3 complete bunshins in order to pass. I'm sorry Naruto" Iruka said. His eyes showed that he truly was sorry for his wayward student.

Naruto made his way out of the building, careful to not show his disappointment.

He sat down on one of the higher buildings roof. He was currently deep in conversation about today's test with Kyuubi.

"I don't understand" he said "every time I try to mold chakra in hand seals, I can't perform it right."

"**This might be one of the side effects. Because you have so much raw chakra, you don't really have a problem with larger jutsus. Mixing you alchemical power with you chakra energy had probably made it so you can't use small amounts of energy. My only suggestion is to show that teacher of yours some other, stronger technique." **Kyuubi stated

Naruto seemed to ponder this. '_What could I possibly use to show Iruka I'm able to become a genin without showing him how powerful I truly am?' _He didn't have long to wonder, when his prayers were answered, unknowingly. Mizuki had arrived. With a proposition.

It was easy enough to get past the Hokage. Being the little pyromaniac that he was, (sarcasm) Naruto had just started a small fire in one of the rooms, far away from where the scroll was. **(1)** Because of the Thirds grandson, who would often get into trouble, it was highly likely that he could be to blame.

He had been able to quickly grab the scroll and ran off towards a secluded spot in the forest. They probably wouldn't even notice the scroll was gone for a few hours. Or so he hoped.

Getting to the forest area, he began to unroll the scroll. If what Mizuki said was true, there would be some techniques he would be able to control. They would also allow him to pass the test if he was able to perform them.

'_Let's see the first one…Kage Bunshin, huh? I already know that one. Next…'_

He read through most of the scroll looking for a jutsu that interested him. Needless to say, he wasn't disappointed. One of the attacks was a fire technique that caused a lot of damage and also took up a lot of chakra, so he shouldn't have a problem with regulating his chakra. The scroll also contained various information on the history of Konoha. He had time to spare, so why not read up on some history.

Naruto didn't have as much time as he thought. Only about 2 hours after he started, his teacher arrived. He had gotten through the scroll by this time, so it wasn't an entire waste. Besides, now he would be able to pass the exam.

"Iruka-sensei, I learned the techniques on the scroll, do I pass?" he asked excitedly.

"Pass? Who told you that?"

"Mizuki-sensei said that if I showed you the jutsus on the scroll you would let me pass the exam" He answered.

"_Mizuki said this. Then that would mean…" _Iruka thought

"That's right Iruka" A voice said "It was a trick"

"You mean Mizuki-sensei tricked me?" Naruto asked.

"Do you want to know why the entire village hate's you?" Mizuki started, despite Iruka's protests, "It's because you're the nine tailed demon fox that tried to destroy Konoha so long ago. Even Iruka here hates you because you killed off his parents!" With this said, Mizuki pulled out a windmill shiruken and threw it towards Naruto

Naruto was still mulling over the information given to him. Sure he already knew he had the Kyuubi inside of him, but it was still a revelation that the Kyuubi had killed Iruka's parents. Maybe Iruka did actually hate him for it.

"**Don't listen to that idiot. If that teacher actually hated you for my actions he would show it. You can see it in his eyes that he respects you" **Kyuubi stated. Naruto knew from those words that the fox was right.

He snapped out of his conversation to see a bleeding Iruka over him, with a shiruken. He had just finished saying something to Mizuki, and though Naruto hadn't heard it, he knew it had been something good about him.

He got up slowly from under Iruka and glared at Mizuki. Iruka was one of his few precious and he would be damned if he was going to let anyone hurt him. He made the hand seals and pushed out the chakra. This time his coils didn't clot and he shouted "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

Naruto was surrounded by 7 complete clones. He heard the gasp from Iruka behind him and knew that his teacher had fallen unconscious shortly after he saw. Mizuki too looked shocked at his feat.

Naruto sent in the clones to attack, but Mizuki had gotten over his shock In a matter of quick mover, the chunin had dispatched the 7 clones, leaving only Naruto.

"No matter how strong you've gotten, you will die hear fox!" he yelled, and prepared another shiruken.

'_Shit, even if I can't die, I don't want to know what it feels like to.' _Naruto though

"**CLAP" **

And he did.

It felt like raw energy was moving through his fingertips. It wasn't chakra, but he didn't remember alchemical energy to feel exactly like this. He concentrated and his body seemed to do the rest. He pushed his hands down into the ground and willed for it to move.

Almost instantly, a stone fist just seemed to erupt from the Earth and head towards Mizuki. Mizuki, who was still spinning the shiruken, didn't have enough time to dodge and was hit dead on by the fist. It knocked him straight back into a tree and then receded back into the ground. Mizuki was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Naruto stood staring at his own hands for a minute before hearing a familiar groan coming from behind him.

"Iruka-sensei! Are you okay?" He asked

"I'll be fine. What happened to Mizuki?" He asked

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and answered, "I kind of knocked him out. He's over there." He pointed to the tree that Mizuki was still under.

"I saw what you did Naruto" _'Uh-oh' _"You were able to do a jounin level technique. I'm very proud of you. I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes." Naruto shut his eyes and felt something wrap around his forehead.

"Congratulations. You pass" said Iruka, with a wide grin plastered on his face.

Naruto couldn't believe it. He had passed. He helped Iruka up off the ground and started off back towards the village. He needed to get Iruka to the hospital.

This was working out great. The more he rose through the ranks of ninja-hood, the more information he would be allowed. His goal was to now become Hokage. Because if he become Hokage, not only would people acknowledge him, but he could also gain information towards his newest goal.

'_The Philosopher's Stone…'

* * *

_

**(1)** Most of you are probably thinking 'Hey what about sexy no jutsu?' My answer is that: Naruto can't create a chakra and had problems with smaller techniques like that. It wouldn't follow my explanation if he could just miraculously perform his trademark attack, now could it?

That little conversation between him and Ino could be seen as anyway you want. I don't want to add any pairing because I want to focus on the story more, but playing with emotions is just so much darn fun.

It had also come to my attention that some of you might be worried about the fic. DON'T. It's not gonna turn out to be some "OMG, its super Naruto coming to kill us all. He's so powerful, we're doomed" –fic. You can already see he has his flaws. And he's not evil.

See how my writing style changes? One chapter it's all angst, angst, angst, and the next it's pretty mellow. Go figure. I don't know whether to incorporate some to the Japanese titles into the story. It just doesn't feel right writing Iruka without sensei at the end. But I don't want to overdue it like some of the other authors who actually use full Japanese language to the point you can't even understand the writing.

And I hope you're happy with the longer chapter. My hand hurts from typing so much.

Next Chapter:

Meet Team 7


	6. Meeting Team 7

See! There is a deeper plot to this story. School starts up again soon, so I won't be able to update as often, but I will be able to update once or twice a week and with longer chapters. Gives me more time to think anyway.

You should now by now but:

_Italics Naruto's thoughts_

**Bold Kyuubi's speech**

_**Bold/Italics Kyuubi's thoughts**_

Chapter 4:

It seemed like an odd dream. He had passed the exam and would graduate. As he lay in bed, this was the sole thought that went through his head. To top it all off, he had a new hope. It was all in that scroll he had stolen. There might be a way to gain back what he had lost.

_Flashback_

'_Let's see. The sealing of Kyuubi…no. I know all about that. Second Great War? Nope. Grass invasion? Negative. Unofficial experimentation by some snaky jounin? Useless. Huh, what about mythology?'_

_-It was a little known fact that many people sought the Red Elixir; also known as the Philosophers Stone. Back when people were able to use the Great Arcanum, Alchemy, there were often rumors flying around about this stone. It was also said that there were some who were actually able to create it._

_The Stone was rumored to bypass the sacred law of Equivalent Exchange. Unfortunately no one really knows if the Stone existed in the first place. The few who had searched for this answer have been known to mysteriously disappear. The most well known researchers of the Stone were the two Elric brothers; though not much information on them is know. It is said…-_

He cut off there, more interested in what it had said about the Stone. If this Stone could work without the laws of Equivalent Exchange, he might have a chance to gain back his soul from the Gate.

He had tried consulting the Kyuubi, but strangely all he heard was a guttural growl in the back of his head.

'_What did I do to make him mad this time?' _He thought

_End Flashback_

_

* * *

_

The pairings for the genin teams were being handed out today. Naruto had left his apartment early so he could get a better seat in the classroom. He also wanted to show off his new Forehead protector.

Arriving at the classroom, he saw that there were already a lot of graduated there. '_Heh, guess everyone's a little excited about today.' _He chose to take a seat closer to the window. Unfortunately, the only one closest to the window left was next to the Uchiha.

After watching the rest of the graduates file inside, Iruka then called for their attention.

"I'm going to read out a team number and three names. After your called go and wait in your respective classroom for you new jounin sensei." He said

As Iruka began going through the list, Naruto found his mind wondering towards his own team. As long as he wasn't paired off with the Uchiha, anyone would be fine.

'**_That lazy kid, Shikamaru, might be a liability. He may not look it but he's actually pretty smart for a human' _**Kyuubi thought.

"… Team seven will be Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto's ears perked up "Haruno Sakura" He could deal with that "-and Uchiha Sasuke." Damn!

"Go wait in room 210, please" Iruka said

Naruto and his new teammates slowly walked to their classroom. Sakura kept trying to strike up a conversation with Sasuke, only to be completely ignored. Naruto inwardly laughed at the poor girls antics. It wasn't that he didn't like her; it was just that you would think she would stop trying to talk to that ice cube of a person. When they had reached the classroom, Naruto took a seat closest to the door, while Sasuke went by the middle row. Sakura followed after him.

It felt like they had been waiting hours for their new sensei. Even Naruto, who would usually talk to Kyuubi to pass the time away, was getting angry. For some reason, Kyuubi wasn't answering his calls anymore. The fox just seemed to be very angry with him, for some reason. Anger won out over patience. When that jounin came in he was going to--.

As if on cue, the door opened to reveal a tall man with silver (or was it grey) hair. The strange thing about him was that he had a mask covering up to his nose and his forehead protector covering his eye.

"Well," he said "meet me on the roof in 5 minutes" before poofing away.

"THAT'S IT! We wait here for 2 hours and that's all he says" Naruto raged. Oh he was going to enjoy tormenting this person.

Never the less, he and his two teammates made their way up onto the roof of the academy building. Waiting by the railing was their new sensei. Each sat down on the small steps next to each other.

"Now I want each of you to tell me your like, dislikes, hobbies and anything else you think is important" the man said,

"But sensei, we don't know anything about you." Sakura said.

"Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I like a lot of things, and dislike a lot of things, a have many hobbies, and my dreams are my own." He answered

'_Well that was informative.' _Naruto thought,_ 'all we learned was his name.'_

"Okay" Kakashi clapped his hands together, "First the girl of the group." He said pointing to Sakura.

"Um… my name is Haruno Sakura, I like…" She blushed profusely while sneaking a glance at Sasuke, "My dislikes are Ino-pig and Naruto" que evil glare in his direction "And my dream is…" at this she blushed even harder and started to giggle.

'_What did I ever do to her? Err… there was that one time with the bucket and the ink, but that was an accident' _Naruto thought.

"Okay, what about the dark haired one?

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes and dislikes are none of your concern. My dream…no, my ambition, is to kill a certain man." Sasuke said.

'_Great, I have a wannabe killer on my team. I can already tell this isn't going to be easy'_

"And last but not least, the blond"

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like Ramen and I dislike people who judge people too quickly. My dream is to become Hokage and to get something back that was taken from me." He said. He didn't want to give away to much information on himself, but it would keep his team interested in him.

His new sensei raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. Kakashi had no idea what Naruto would be trying to get back, but it didn't seem important for now.

"Meet me tomorrow at training field, number 7 at 8:00 am. We'll start the real exam tomorrow" and with that, their sensei poofed away before his students could ask anything else.

* * *

Naruto was a little confused to what his sensei had meant. Hadn't they already passed the genin exam? He mused on a possible explanation as he walked towards the bridge in field 7. Sakura and Sasuke were already waiting there and Kakashi was nowhere to be found. Hopefully this wouldn't be a repeat of yesterday's wait. And it was. 

At 10:00 sharp, Kakashi poofed into view with a cheerful "Yo!"

"You're late!" shouted both Sakura and Naruto.

"Ah… sorry. I got lost on the road of life." He explained. They knew it was a lie, and an obvious one at that. With that, he took out an alarm clock and set it to noon.

"I have two bells here. The two that get the bells will become genin and the one who doesn't will be sent back to the academy. The one who doesn't will also be tied to the stump and will be forced to watch us eat while he or she gets none. You have till noon. Use any force necessary and aim to kill. Start"

With that word, all three genins jumped out into the forest, looking for hiding places. Naruto positioned himself up high in a tree. He had a perfect view of Kakashi. Kakashi himself seemed to just be waiting for any movement.

Naruto chuckled lightly. This would be the perfect chance for revenge. He would pay for all those wasted hours. He would pay…

* * *

Another chapter is out of the way. I'm putting the fight in the next chapter and I wanted to get the more important information out. Naruto now has a purpose. 

I resisted putting an evil cackle at the end of that last sentence. You could practically here him as he thought those lines. Evil. So much evil.

Next Chapter:

The Real Test


	7. poor Kakashi

Long chapter coming up! I want to start the Haku arc with this. Why must cut off my punctuations?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 5

It was a simple matter to set up traps. If he wanted to he could have just used alchemy to attach his sensei to the earth, but that would show too much. Instead, he decided to set up minor traps. You know the kind. A 30 foot hole in the ground and a log set up so it would bash your head in when you tripped the wire. Small things like that.

To activate these traps, Naruto would have to meet Kakashi head on and back him into the wire. Easier said than done. He needed help. Naruto leaped from the tree and quickly sent out his chakra to scan the area. He felt the familiar chakra signature of Sakura about 30 feet away from his current spot. If Sakura was there, you knew that Sasuke was always there as well.

Careful to not make too much noise, he began running over to the two. He found Sakura easily and tapped her shoulder. Just as she was about to scream, he put a hand over her mouth.

"Listen, if we want to pass the test we need to work together. Stay here while I go get Sasuke." He said. Sakura gave him a glare but nodded anyways.

He left her by the bush and went off to find Sasuke. Sasuke had started fighting Kakashi and was getting beaten badly. Every blow was easily being parried and given back at twice the force. After one nasty blow, he leapt away from Kakashi and started to perform some hand seals.

_Horse, Ox, Tiger "_**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu". **Part of the field was now set on fire as a large fireball went hurtling towards Kakashi. It lasted for about 20 seconds, and then slowly disintegrated. When the smoke had cleared, Kakashi was nowhere to be found.

Sasuke looked around for his sensei. All of a sudden, two hands came out from underneath him and pulled him under. Kakashi stood up from under the ground and walked over to Sasuke, who only his head could be seen.

"Take this as a lesson in ninjutsu. You're pretty good to be able to use such an advanced technique. I'd say that was around Chunin level, but still not good enough to defeat me." He said.

With that, Kakashi left in search of the rest of his student. Once he was out of his vision, Naruto crept toward Sasuke. "Need some help?"

"No" came the reply.

"We need to work together to get the bells Sasuke." Naruto said.

"I'm not going back to the Academy, so just leave me alone. I can do it myself!"

"I believe you. I mean, you're doing such a good job already. He was really working hard just to fight you." He said sarcastically. "We still need to work together if any of us want to pass. If it changes your mind, I'll volunteer to go back to the Academy. But all of are going back if we don't work together." '_Che, yeah right. I'm not going back. But he doesn't need to know that.'_

Sasuke pondered this for a second, before reluctantly agreeing. With that, Naruto pulled him out of the hole and headed back to where he had left Sakura. She was still by the bush.

"I have some traps set up already but I need help getting Kakashi by them. We need to push him back towards the bridge." He explained.

Both of his teammates looked skeptical about listening to Naruto. Who wouldn't be, in their opinion? He was a dead last in class and couldn't perform some of the easiest skills know to shinobi. "Look. Just try my plan out. If it works, then that's good for us. If not you two can come up with one." Both agreed. "Okay then, here's the plan." And they went to work.

Kakashi was getting a little worried for his new student's. They only had half an hour left before the timer ran and he hadn't seen any of them since Sasuke's initial attack. It was another 5 minutes before he heard a noise behind him. It was Naruto

'_This kid can't be that stupid to do head on attack can he? Then again, so did Sasuke' _he thought. Naruto launched himself at Kakashi in a very sloppy stance. Naruto tried punching him, only to have his punches blocked and launched back at him. Leaping away, Naruto whistled a long note. Sasuke then launched himself out of the foliage, and started attacking Kakashi with Naruto.

Subconsciously, Kakashi was being pushed closer and closer to the bridge. Once again Naruto whistled. Kakashi expect Sakura to jump out as well, but there wasn't a sign of her. It was then that he realized he had been tricked. Sasuke had landed a particularly strong blow that had sent him sliding backwards into something by his legs. When he looked down, there was nothing there. '_Genjutsu? Kai (release)' _When he looked again, he saw a thick wire. And he had tripped it.

He looked back up to see that both Naruto and Sasuke had leapt a good 20 feet back. Kakashi had a big sinking feeling about this one. He heard a sound that resembled falling trees and looked behind him. There, coming at him at about eighty miles per hour, was a cut log swinging from other trees. It didn't help that his legs wouldn't move. Somehow the wire used to trip the trap had snaked its way around his legs. '_How the hell did it do that.' _But he had bigger fish to fry. He looked back towards the log and braced himself.

'_SHIT! This is going to hurt.' _Were his final thoughts as the log hit him straight on and sent him crashing into the river behind him.

When he woke up again, all three members of team seven were standing over him with big grins on their faces. It was more like two them. Sasuke just had his trademark smirk in place. Both Sasuke and Sakura were holding up the bells.

"Congratulations. You pass." He said

"All of us?" Sakura asked.

"Yep" Kakashi answered "Working together was the whole point of the exercise. I believe each of you did a part, right"

"Yea. Me and Sasuke attacked and drove you back over the trap we made, while Sakura disguised the wire with a genjutsu." Naruto said.

"Well, congratulations once again, New Team 7. Meet back here tomorrow for your first mission." He said and poofed away.

The New team 7 members looked at each other, before smiling (or smirking depending on who they were) and left their separate ways. Sasuke left back for his home with Sakura close behind and Naruto headed for the Ramen shop. '_I deserve after all that.'

* * *

_

They had been doing nothing but D- Ranked missions for about a week. These missions ranged from walking dogs to babysitting kids. They were getting bored really fast. It was no surprise when, after finishing up a mission, Naruto asked the Hokage for a better mission.

"We're sick of these stupid tasks. I want a real mission, like guarding a princess or fighting missing Nins." Naruto said.

"NARUTO! You know the rules!" Iruka began but was cut off by the Hokage "You are hereby assigned to escort a bridge builder back tot his country" he said.

"But Hokage-sama, there only genin" Iruka protested.

"Nonsense, they can handle it." He said "You can come in now." An older man walked into the room with a pack on his back and a bottle of alcohol.

"These brats are going to guard me? It looks like they barely got out of school." He said

"Don't worry. I have full confidence in my team. Not to mention, that I will also be there and I'm a jounin." Kakashi said. He then turned to his team and said "Meet at the Northern gate in an hour. We'll head out from there. And don't pack heavily or anything unneeded."

* * *

Omake #1:Mission #12

About a week into their training as team 7, they had received a mission by one of the village residents. Arriving at the house, they were given the task of painting the fence surrounding the house. Team seven let out a collective moan and went to go pick up the pain cans.

Kakashi seeing his teams boredom, went to make the task a little more interesting. "How about a bet" Their ears perked up at that. "The first one who finishes their side of the bet gets to choose where we eat. The losers have to pay. Everyone, choose a side of the fence."

They had, of course, agreed. Each of them chose a separate side, Naruto choosing the one to the back. He was hungry and low on money. He'd milk this for all it was worth. Who was he to turn up a free meal?

He vaguely heard Kakashi say the words" begin" from his side of the house. Instantly he picked up two paint cans and threw the contents onto the fence. Clapping his hands together, he pressed them into the paint. A small blue-ish light enveloped the fence, and it was soon fully painted.

As soon as it began to dry, he yelled out in his loudest voice "DONE!" The three other ninja's, upon hearing this, quickly rounded their respective corners, only to have their mouths drop in astonishment.

It was true. He finished before them. They each had thoughts along the lines of '_How?'_ and '_Impossible'._

But each of them thought at the same time. '_I'm going to go broke.'_

Sure enough, Naruto was whistling happily at the thought of how many bowls of Ramen he was going to eat. He just had to wait until his teammates and sensei where done with their side of the fence.

I couldn't resist the Omake part. I just came to me as I was writing and it was to funny to pass up. XD

Hope you enjoyed that chapter.


	8. Demon of the Mist

I was watching the Haku arc a few days ago for ideas and I noticed something odd. If you watch it, at one point, Naruto does this long ass string of hand seals to do Kage Bunshin, but every other time it's only one seal. Just thought I'd share that with you.

On another note, I'll try to update one a week.

* * *

Chapter 6

"No"

Sasuke walked forward, leaving Sakura back as she digested his answer. Once again, Sasuke had just refused her offer to eat with her. Inner Sakura was practically ranting.

"Sakura-chan, I'll go out with you!" Naruto yelled.

"No" as she walked away.

"**Bah, forget about her brat. She's already obsessive over that Uchiha brat."**

Kyuubi had once again started talking with Naruto a day into the mission. No matter how many times Naruto asked him, the fox wouldn't tell him why he was mad in the first place. Naruto decided to count his blessings and stopped asking.

So far the walk to the Wave country had taken them almost two days. Kakashi had said a little before that they were 3/4 way there. And luckily, there had been no attacks, not that they would expect any on a C-rank mission. Tazuna seemed to occasionally glance around towards the forests.

"You shouldn't be so worried Tazuna-san, we'll protect you from bandits." Said Kakashi. Tazuna nodded and looked forward.

Naruto had fallen behind. He had felt something on their path, but could not pin point where the feeling was coming from. It felt like a chakra source, chunin level at most. It was then that he saw a puddle in the middle of the woods. To top it all off, it seemed to give off a strange aura.

Naruto jogged up to Kakashi, and gave him a sideways glance. When he had gotten his attention, Naruto nodded his head slightly towards the puddle. Kakashi nodded to him, then continued reading his book.

They had gone a few good feet from said puddle before chains wrapped around Kakashi. Team 7 and Tazuna could only watch as the spiked chains were pulled and Kakashi was ripped into many pieces.

It was two ninjas, Naruto noticed. They had split up- one going towards Tazuna, the other heading for him. Before Naruto could react, he had a kunai to the hand that would have gone farther if not for Kakashi grabbing the ninja from behind.

As fast as he was there, Kakashi left for the other nin. Also grabbing the other from behind he swung them out and into a tree. Kakashi then produced steel wiring from his pouch and tied the ninja to the trees.

"Who are you two and why are you after Tazuna?" he asked.

He was answer with two very heated glares. They had adamantly refused to talk no matter how many times Kakashi asked them.

"Fine" Kakashi said as he sent a green flare into the sky "I just signaled for the hunter nins. I'm sure Ibiki will have fun interrogating you." He then turned to his team and said, "We need to be more prepared. I don't know who else will attack. Also Tazuna-san, I need to talk to you a little later."

Naruto listened to his sensei the looked back towards his hand. The kunai had pierced straight through his hand. He could also tell that it was a poisoned kunai at that. He applied pressure and willed it to heal. He felt more alchemical powered rush to his injured hand. He covered his hand to hide the tell tale light that always came when he needed to heal

It was still closing up when Kakashi seemed to notice him. "Naruto, how far did he cut you?" he asked

"Not far. It didn't even really break the skin." He answered. Kakashi then walked over and grabbed his hand. After looking at it, he found that it was a small scratch that was healing at a fast rate. '_Huh? I could have sworn it pierced deeper than this. Must be because of Kyuubi.'_

Team 7 continued walking down the path toward the Wave country, while Kakashi stayed behind and talked with Tazuna. Even though he was farther up, Naruto was still able to pick out some words such as 'assassins' and a man named Gatou.

* * *

They had reached the checkpoint to the Wave country by 5:00. It was arranged so that someone from the village would come and row them across the giant lake. They would then proceed to Tazuna's house.

As they reached the lake, they noticed that the boatman hadn't arrived yet. It didn't help that Tazuna was constantly fidgeting. After the fight with the two chunin (found out to be the Demon Brothers) Team 7 had been on edge.

"Where is this guy" Sakura said impatiently.

"Calm down Sakura, he should be here in a matter of minutes" replied Tazuna

A fog had started to settle in, making it harder to see across the surface of the lake. Naruto's ears picked up the sound of water moving and the creaking of oars. It seemed to be getting closer until it just seemed to stop. Soon, they were able to make out an outline of a small boat; however, there was no one on it.

The boat drifted onto the shore silently.

"I don't like the sign of this" said Kakashi, "Team, formation 2D around Tazuna." All three of them jumped around Tazuna, forming a tight triangle on each side.

It was then that a deep voice spoke out from the thickening fog, "Hand over the bridge builder and I'll let you go alive."

A form had begun to appear through the mist on the surface of the lake. It was a man of tall stature. He wore baggy pants and had bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face. His most noticeable feature was the large sword hanging off his back.

Each member of team 7 took out a kunai and put themselves into a defensive position. Kakashi had also drawn a kunai. The man unsheathed his sword from his back and propped it up against his arm.

"I'll say it again. Hand over the old man and you can go"

"NO Way" shouted Naruto.

"Have it your way" the man said before disappearing from view, only to reappear right in front of Tazuna. Another blur was quick to follow, and instantly Kakashi stood between Tazuna and the man, kunai fending off the giant sword.

"Our answer was no." he said.

Sasuke grabbed Tazuna and pulled him away from the man. Once again the three genin formed a tight triangle, keeping an eye out for the mysterious man. AS soon as they had moved, the two fighters drew apart from each other.

"Very good. Not many are able to parry my sword. In hopes of a good fight, I will tell you my name. It's Momochi Zabuza, also known as the Demon of the Mist."

"Momochi Zabuza? As in the S-classed missing-nin?" Sasuke asked.

To this Zabuza let out a dark chuckle. "So, even those in the leaf have heard of me. Yes boy, I am him. Do you know why I got that nickname? It's because I killed all the kids trying to become genin in my graduating class. At the time, we had to kill one of our classmates to pass. I just took it a few steps further." He got a glazed look in his eyes, remembering and savoring the gruesome memory. He then looked back to Kakashi and the genins while readying his sword.

Kakashi, deciding to get the fight done quickly, moved his hand to his forehead protector. He then proceeded to lift up the covered part. When he opened his eye, Zabuza and his team noticed that his eye was red with three dots circling the pupil.

'_Isn't that the Sharingan?' _Sasuke thought.

'_Hey Kyuubi, what's with his eye?' _Naruto asked. He felt the fox move.

'**Interesting. It seems as though your teacher has himself a bloodline ability.'**

'_Bloodline?'_

'**A bloodline is a techniques that is bred into a specific family. Like those Hyuuga's and their white eyes."**

'_Oh! You mean like Hinata?'_

'**Yes, her family has the Byakaugan."**

'_What about Kakashi? He doesn't have white eyes.'_

"**I'm pretty sure that's the Sharingan, though it was native to the Uchiha Clan" **

Naruto stopped his conversation when he noticed that his sensei and Zabuza had begun fighting. They were already on top of the water making hand seals. Zabuza finished his seals first and sent a water dragon towards Kakashi. Kakashi then sent an identical dragon towards Zabuza, which resulted in both of them being pushed back.

Kakashi fell beneath the surface and when he resurfaced, found that he couldn't get on top. Zabuza darted toward Kakashi and went through another string of hand seals and slammed his palm onto the water. Kakashi was pulled upward as a sphere of water surrounded him. He was trapped.

"Get Tazuna out of here. Bring him back to Konoha!" he yelled. All three genins flinched at his tone. AN S-classes missing-nin had captured their sensei. If they didn't get out of here, they would be killed along with Tazuna. Naruto was the first to move, but not in the opposite direction. He took a step towards Zabuza.

"No way. We're not gonna give up just like that." His outburst seemed to have given his teammates a small boost in confidence, as Sasuke too walked up and stood besides Naruto. Sakura, seeing that her crush was willing to fight, got a look of determination but stayed next to Tazuna, kunai in hand.

"So the brats have decided to fight" said Zabuza, clearly amused with there bravery. He set his hands and the bird seal and created a water clone.

The clone had the same sword as Zabuza and lifted it to face the genin.

Naruto turned to face Sasuke. He caught his eye and nodded. They knew what they had to do with that silent exchange. Sasuke produced some shiruken from his pouch and threw them at the Zabuza clone. The clone simply lifted its sword to deflect them. When it put the sword down from its face, it saw an orange streak pass by.

It was about to turn and follow but another blur had attacked from behind. Sasuke had launched another attack on the clone.

As Naruto headed towards the real Zabuza, he put his hands in the cross seal and created two Kage Bunshins and sent them to help Sasuke. He also created another clone to help him out.

The clone suddenly stopped and took out a wind shuriken from his bag and threw it towards Zabuza. Zabuza jumped up to avoid the wind shuriken, only to have another one head from his right. It seems that the real Naruto had meant to throw it while he was still in the air. He used his sword to push up further narrowly avoiding the second.

When he landed on the surface he heard a popping sound from behind him. A kunai whizzed right passed his arm, forcing him to withdraw it from the Water Prison.

"You stupid brat!" he hissed. Zabuza lifted his sword and flung it like a Shiruken towards Naruto, who was steadily falling down into the water.

'_Shit!' _Naruto took out a kunai and crossed his arms, bracing for the sword. The tip of the sword, still spinning, hit the hilt of the kunai, causing the back part to recoil and hit his side. As Naruto fell into the water, he looked at the gash running through his right abdomen. He also felt his clone's chakra returning to him. That meant that either Sasuke had beat the clone or they were killed by the Zabuza clone. Hopefully the former.

'_My chakra's almost out. At least I freed Kakashi. He can beat Zabuza as long as he doesn't do anything stupid' _He thought as he blacked out.

* * *

Naruto was woken up by a stream of sunlight in his face. He opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. By the looks of it, he was laying in a medium sized room. It wasn't highly decorated and there was an open window behind him. He was able to smell water, so he concluded that he was probably in the lake village.

"Oh Naruto, you're awake." He looked towards that door to see a woman, probably in her late 20's. "I'll go tell Kakashi-kun."

Two minutes later, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke had come back into the room.

"Naruto you gave us quite a scare there. By the amount of blood in the water, we thought you had died" Kakashi said, "but we were surprised to find that there was no wound on your body."

'_Think, think, think' _"That's because it was a genjutsu. I made it so he would have thought he had hit me. It gave Kakashi-sensei time to attack. The blood was just food dye." he said.

"Since when did you know genjutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"I read a scroll or two before." He lied. "The only reason I collapsed was because of chakra exhaustion."

"By the way, what happened to Zabuza?" Naruto asked.

"Well after you got him out of the Water Prison, Kakashi-sensei fought for a little while with some Water Jutsu's. It was really awesome. It was like he could tell what Zabuza was going to do!" said Sakura. "Just when Kakashi-sensei was about to finish him off, a hunter-nin came out of nowhere and threw needles into Zabuza's neck. He came and took Zabuza's body away. Next thing we know Kakashi collapsed and we fished you out of the lake. You've been out for about two days now."

"Where are we anyway?" He asked

"We're at Tazuna's house." answered Sasuke.

"Well, we will let you get dressed. When your done, meet us in the kitchen because we have a lot of training to do." With that they got up and went towards the door. Before she went out, Sakura turned around.

"I would have never thought that you would have been the kind of person to get a tattoo. It's a pretty cool one. I saw it when I went to bandage your wounds." She said and left.

He looked towards the shut door and sighed. It was true, he had noticed the new tattoo shortly after the transmutation. It was the oddest tattoo he had ever seen. It had a serpent with wings, biting its own tail and a star diagram in the middle. It was located on his left upper arm.

When he asked the Kyuubi about it, the fox had said it was part of being a homunculus. He didn't want to pursue it further. As long as it wasn't hurting him, he didn't want to know. Besides it looked pretty good.

* * *

All I can possibly say is that schools is a waste of time. Especially AP history. Why we need to right so many essays at one time is beyond me.

Sorry about the delayed chapter, schoolwork was overloaded, so I didn't have much time to write.

Please review. Ideas welcomed


	9. Fight at the Bridge

I want to get to an end in the Haku arc.

* * *

Chapter 7

"_I don't understand. Why was I out for so long?' _He was back in the recess of his mind, once again talking to the Kyuubi.

'**The more times you experience healing, the shorter time it will take to actually heal. You'd probably come back from death pretty quickly though. Besides, what you said was true. Your chakra was almost gone and the residue poison from the kunai wound wasn't helping.'**

'_Yea, but I think I'd prefer NOT to be stabbed, mauled or mutilated in any ways that need healing.' _He said.

"Naruto, get up! We are going training with Kakashi- sensei." Sakura yelled from the downstairs. He quickly pulled on his dark orange jacket and his weapon set and headed down the stairs. The rest of Team Seven were all waiting outside of the house when Naruto caught up to them. Once he got there, Kakashi started leading them outwards toward the surrounding forest.

"Today will learn how to climb trees" Kakashi said, stopping in a forest clearing. He turned around only to see the incredulous looks his team was giving him.

"Why are we going to climb trees? How is that going to help us get stronger?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Easy! You won't be using your hands." He answered and once again he was given another set of incredulous looks. He sighed and motioned for them to watch him.

He stepped out towards a sturdy looking tree and planted his right foot on the base. He then continued to walk upwards at a leisurely pace. He sat down on one of the sturdier tree branch and pulled out the familiar orange book.

"All you have to do is gather chakra at the bottom of your feet. Concentrate and try to run up the tree. Mark your progress with a kunai."

'_This will be easy'_

"**Don't be too sure brat"**

So each genin grabbed a kunai from their pouch and ran towards the nearest tree. Naruto had run two feet up the trunk before falling, flat on his back.

"**You need to concentrate more than that brat. This isn't like that Kage Bunshin."**

"This is easy" he heard Sakura yell. He looked to his right to see that, indeed, Sakura had already made it to the top branch.

'_How the hell did she do that?'_

He focused his chakra back towards his feet and took off running. He made it up another few feet before tumbling back down to the ground. He was getting angry. And fast. The only good thing was that Sasuke wasn't that much better off then him.

* * *

It was getting late in the day. Kakashi and Sakura had already gone back to Tazuna's house, leaving Naruto and Sasuke to continue practicing. He had made a lot of advances, mainly thanks to the advice that Sakura had given him.

Sasuke too had begun to get tired. Thought he would not admit to Naruto, he was hungry tired and desperately wanted to go back and get something to eat.

"You should head back" Naruto said, "I'm going to head back as soon as I get to the middle branch. You've already made it farther than me."

"Hn" was his response. Sasuke put his kunai back into his bag and began walking back toward the house.

Once he was out of sight, Naruto focused intensely on his feet and put some more chakra into his legs. He slowly walked up the whole tree trunk reaching one of the higher branches.

"Ha! Told you I could do it." He said more to himself then the Kyuubi.

"**You do know that that Mist ninja is still alive, right?"**

'_What!'_

"**It's pretty obvious. Why would a hunter just take the body? They usually destroy it on site. And if you placed a needle in a specific place, it would seem like the victim was dead."**

'_Do you think Kakashi knows this?'_

"**Probably. Your teacher may be lazy but he's pretty smart."**

'_Now what?'_

"**Well you could practice that tree exercise more, or you could practice some more alchemy."**

Naruto grinned at that. He had wanted to test out his new alchemy skill more. Because of all the D ranked missions with his team, he hadn't really been able practice.

He had understood that, for the alchemy to work, he needed to clap his hands together. This made some sense. You needed a circle to transmute, so by making a circle with his arms, he was still following this rule.

He brought his hand up in front of him and clapped them together. Once he felt the spark of power, he thought of the elements of the earth and of a weapons design. Bringing them down to the earth, he willed the power into it, and began to pull at it. Even though his eyes were closed, he could see the design of the weapon come out towards his hand.

When the lights had dimmed, he opened his eyes, and saw that he was now holding a rather long sword, with an equally intricate design.

He liked the feel of the sword. It was light and it seemed as though he had been made just to wield it. He swung out the sword and did various thrusts, testing it out. He knew stances and moves; it was like it was already implanted into his head.

One thing was for sure, he knew he loved swords.

* * *

He was woken up by a hand on his shoulder. He groaned and tried to sit up. Naruto couldn't remember what time he had fallen asleep but he was still worn out. He opened his eyes, only to see a pretty looking girl, probably a little older then him.

"You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here" she said.

"Don't worry about me. I was just training."

"Are you a ninja?" she asked

"Yep. I need to get stronger to protect those who are precious to me" '_and get back what I've lost'_

She just smiled back at him, still picking up herbs. "Then you know what it is like to have precious people." He only smiled back.

She finished up and started to walk away, but said over her shoulder, "My name is Haku, I hope we meet again. And just incase, I think you should know… I'm a boy." and was gone.

'_Well Damn!'_

"**Humans are odd creatures."**

'_I better head back to the house. They might be worried about me.'_

He walked the path back to Tazuna's and went through the front door. He found Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, busy cooking.

"Naruto-kun! You've been gone all night. We were beginning to worry about you." She said smiling.

"Sorry, I was out training." He said

"It's still very early. I think all your friends are still sleeping. Why don't you head up and get some rest. No offense, but you look horrible" she said.

He nodded and went back to his room. True to her word, Sasuke and Sakura were still asleep. He tiptoed quietly to his futon and laid down. He was back asleep before he hit the pillow.

* * *

"MOM!"

He jolted awake upon hearing someone yell. He looked around to find that Sakura and Sasuke were missing.

"Inari, run away!" another yell, this time feminine.

'_Well, something's happening' _he thought as he got up. He snuck downstairs, and saw Tsunami behind two guys with swords. Inari was off to the corner, crying. He stayed hidden as he watched Tsunami being led away by the two. He made to follow them, but Inari was already ahead of him, threatening the two kidnappers.

'_Brave kid, stupid…but brave'_

Inari had tried running at the two, fist raised. As the two were about to slice him in half, Naruto made his move. He created a Kage Bunshin and attacked from behind, sending the two would be samurai sprawling on the ground. Naruto wasted no time and tied them up with wire.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where my teammates are, would you?" he asked jollily. Inari gave him a disbelieving look before saying, "I think… they're at the bridge… with my grandpa."

With a nod, Naruto ran off towards the bridge. Hopefully, the missing nin hadn't attacked yet and he would still be on time. It wasn't that far to the bridge. After all the Wave Country needed it to survive economically. It actually led straight into the village shopping district. A good idea, if the bridge was ever finished.

He had arrived at the bottom of the bridge. It didn't help that he heard another scream coming from the top.

'_That sounded like Sakura! Better try out this new trick now then.'_

He gathered the chakra to his feet and tried walking up the side of the bridge. He could feel himself slipping slightly. Focusing even harder, Naruto was hit with an idea. Alchemical energy was sort of like chakra. He put his hands together and felt the power surge. He willed it down to his feet. Instantly, he regained whatever control he had.

The sight that greeted him wasn't good. Zabuza, if he remembered the name correctly, seemed to be beating Kakashi. Of course, he couldn't really tell, seeing as the mist had become so thick. But he smelled blood coming from his direction and it was familiar. Sakura was by Tazuna, relatively unharmed.

What concerned him the most was that Sasuke was fighting a hunter nin.

'_Must be that other ninja they were talking about before. Amazing, he can control ice.'_

Sasuke was trapped in what looked to be as a dome of mirrors. He was completely surrounded and covered in various wounds. Naruto decided that Sasuke was in worse condition and needed his help more than Kakashi.

He snuck closer to the dome and saw that the masked nin was actually in one of the mirrors. In a flash, the mirrors flickered and hundreds of senbon needles came raining down of Sasuke. '_That has to hurt. I think I should interrupt this before anything else happens.'_

"Hey Sasuke, You okay?"

"It's about time you got here, dobe" he answered _'If he attacks from the outside, we should stand a chance'_

"You really don't look so good" Naruto was right in front of him now.

"You idiot! Yo should have stayed on the outside!" he yelled.

"I came to help you, you ass"

"You're not much help now, are you?"

"Dissension among the ranks? That's not a good way to defeat an opponent." Said the masked ninja.

Both Naruto and Sasuke glared at him. "You know those mirrors are made of ice. Did you try a fire jutsu?" Naruto whispered.

"Of course I did, idiot, it doesn't work" he answered.

"Don't call me that! Did you try actually running out of this place?"

"Yea but every time, he just throws me back and hits me with senbon needles."

"He can't hit both of us at once. You go that way and I'll leave from over there." He said. He threw a signal and both of them darted in opposite direction.

All of a sudden, another rain of senbons came down. When he looked to see where they were coming from, he saw that each of the mirrors carried the same masked figure.

'_Kage Bunshin?'_

"GAAHH" he heard Sasuke scream.

They were both thrown back towards the middle of the ring. Naruto found that he had various wounds on his body. Luckily, the smaller of the wounds were healing. Sasuke had the most. Because he had been hit more times, his body was beginning to look like a pincushion.

"This is ridiculous!" Naruto yelled, becoming exasperated, "They are supposed to be ice."

"It's his bloodline limit. He enforces them with chakra" Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded and looked at Sasuke. "Hey, what's with your eyes?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"They look weird. They are red with a little comma thingy in the side. Kinda like Kakashi-sensei"

Sasuke had a look of pure shock on his face, which would have made Naruto burst out laughing, if not for the thick atmosphere.

Seeing that Sasuke was still in shock he pulled something out of his jacket pocket. "Just because fire doesn't melt it doesn't mean it can't break."

"What are those?" asked Sasuke as he pulled the gloves onto his hands. Naruto made sure that they were still dry and that the circle was still in place correctly.

"These, my friend, are my greatest weapons. And don't even try copying it." He said.

"Let me get this straight, you're going to fight him with a pair of gloves. What are you going to do? Throw it at him and hope the material gives him a rash?" (Yes, the great Uchiha actually made a joke, so sue me.)

Naruto smiled at him, a very devilish smile. "Nope. I'm going to do this."

_SNAP_

_BOOM_

Three of the mirrors were broken in due to the explosion. Parts of the ground had become charred and cracked. The explosion also sent Sasuke and Naruto back, black ash on their clothes and face.

"Wow… I wonder what would happen if I pressed more." Naruto said. "That was awesome!"

Sasuke looked at him as though he had just grown two heads and coughed. "How the hell did you do that?"

"Um… It's a secret. On the bright side, I got rid of some mirrors."

He didn't have long to celebrate. Another rain of senbons came down on them. It seemed as though their opponent wanted to get this done fast. Sasuke was hit in more places and was losing blood, fast.

"Damnit. I. can't even see straight." He whispered out.

_SNAP_

_BOOM_

It was a smaller explosion this time. It only took out two of the mirrors in the back.

"Those gloves are very dangerous." The ninja said "I'll have to destroy them."

He sent another rain of senbons, specifically at Naruto. Even though there were fewer mirrors, there were still a lot of senbons. This guy was extremely fast. Naruto crossed his arms over his face and chest, bracing for them.

They never came.

When he opened his eyes, Sasuke was standing over him, with senbons coming out of his neck. He fell back hard onto the ground. His gloves were destroyed.

"Sasuke! Why did you do that?" Naruto yelled.

"M-my body moved on its own. I didn't want to see you die. You can save the mission." He choked out. His body then went limp in Naruto's arms.

His mind couldn't register what had happened. Sasuke had just jumped out and took the hits form him. He didn't ask him to. He just did it.

Then it hit him. Sasuke was gone. The masked nin had killed him. And he felt anger.

_Kill him. _

'_Why?'_

_He killed your friend. You know you want to._

'_Your not Kyuubi.'_

_No... I'm not._

'_Who are you?'_

_I'm you. _Naruto could see him. It looked identical to him.

'_What?'_ The figure smiled. But it wasn't a nice smile. More like a smirk

_You can call me Pride. _Naruto hated that smirk

* * *

Behold. Yet another chapter. I originally didn't want the gloves to appear until the Chunin exam, but now I have a better idea.

I have my reasons for making Naruto into Pride. In the Anime, Pride is the Fuehrer and he is part human or something to that affect. Or he ages. That too. And in the manga, they use humans to make a homunculus so same here. Confusing isn't it. Try your best to understand.

Review please!


	10. Conclusion of the fight

"talking"

"**demon talking"**

'_thoughts'_

'**_demon thoughts'_**

_Pride talking

* * *

_

Chapter 8

He couldn't hear the Kyuubi. It was just him and this person called Pride. As he looked to this person, he only felt hatred and bloodlust. It felt addictive. It was as if this being was putting the will to kill into him.

It was his darker half. And it wanted blood. And he was angry enough to comply without argument.

He focused his gaze onto the boy in the mirror. He felt strength rush to him. It wasn't the Kyuubi's chakra. It was his.

He clapped his hand and brought them to the ground. He brought out the same sword as he had before.

-

**Hunter Nin POV**

The boy in the mirror gasped at what was happening. The boy, Naruto, had a dark aura around him. When he looked up at him, he saw that the boy's eyes had also changed. They had become a dark purple and slitted.

The next thing he did surprised the hunter nin. The boy simply clapped his hands and put them into the ground and a sword came up into his hands.

'_Is it a bloodline?'_

Naruto got into a loose sword stance with one hand on the hilt and the other on the flat surface of the blade. Faster than the ninja could blink, Naruto charged and swiped at the mirror.

The ninja could have sworn that there was a flame coming from the blade, it was going so fast. The swing created a sound like a bullwhip. The ninja was pretty sure, that even if the attack didn't hit the sound would have broken the mirror anyway.

The mirror itself was totally sliced in half and fell to the ground, shattering. The ninja was lucky that he had such quick reflexes, or else he would have ended up like that mirror.

He decided that it was useless to keep up the demonic ice mirrors. Naruto could obviously break them with ease, and it would be a waste of chakra to keep them up. He went to one of the farther mirrors as fast as he could. Instead of melting this one down, he formed it into a makeshift sword. It was better to be armed with something he was inexperienced with than with nothing at all.

Naruto turned to face him, falling once again into his stance and charged. Haku put the sword up to guard the blow. When it hit, both opponents were at a standstill, but Naruto had more power behind the blow. He was slowly pushing the hunter back. The sword of ice was also starting to chip.

He pushed back away from Naruto. Naruto swung out the sword at an amazing speed. Though it didn't hit, he was still pushed back from the force.

He hit the ground and rolled back. His mask was beginning to crack from the friction. Naruto stood back straight and once again took a stance for the final blow. He knew that he couldn't beat Naruto. He stood up and prepared to take the blow.

His masked had cracked.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

_That's it. Just a little farther and you'll have your revenge._

He saw the hunter nin get up. His last attack had flung him back. It was time for the final strike. He pulled his sword up and charged for the final blow.

He moved at incredible speeds. He wanted… Needed to kill this person.

He moved closer to the ninja and thrust out his sword arm. He felt the sword go threw him. But he felt no pity. He felt no grief. No. It gave him a strange satisfaction.

But he knew it wasn't him who enjoyed it.

He heard a cough from the person as blood came up from his mouth and pushed away the mask.

What he saw next surprised him. It was the boy that he had met in the woods. He had been so nice to him. Why would he want to kill them?

Haku coughed again. The sword had gone straight through him, narrowly missing the heart. He quickly withdrew the sword.

He watched as Haku fell to his knees. He didn't know what to do. His anger had passed now that he knew who he had tried to kill.

"W-why?" he asked.

"I d-did it for –cough- Zabuza-san" Haku said, clutching his chest. "My…only ambition is to he-help Zabuza-san"

"Is that really something to throw you're life away for?" Naruto asked.

Haku smiled sadly at the question. "Yes. He saved me from being alone. He took me in when no one would even look at me. To me… it is truly worth dieing for. But I failed him. I can't beat you. Please…kill me."

'_He doesn't deserve this' _"Fine"

He picked up his sword and rushed forward to deal the fatal blow. Just as he was about to kill him, Haku's eyes widened and he pulled a senbon to parry the blow.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but Zabuza needs me" he spoke weakly. As he finished saying this, he sped out of the way.

Naruto looked around trying to sense were he had gone. When he picked up his chakra signal, he found it between that of Kakashi and Zabuza. He ran towards them, hoping that Kakashi was still okay.

* * *

When he reached them, Kakashi had his hand though Haku's heart. He was dead before the attack even hit though. He died because of the blood loss. But by putting himself in front of Zabuza, he had saved him from his death and freed him from the dogs holding him.

Both Zabuza and Kakashi were wounded. Zabuza, given this second chance, grasped his cleaver and went to cut through Haku to get to Kakashi. Before he could hit, Kakashi grabbed Haku and jumped out of the way. He laid Haku down and stood again to face Zabuza. Before they could resume the fight a voice broke through the mist.

"It seems as though you've failed to do your job, Zabuza" said the man. He was short and balding. Behind him stood a gang of about 50 thugs.

"Gatou" Zabuza growled.

"I decided to take care of the problem myself, along with you" he said, smirking.

"I guess this means our fight is over, Kakashi." Zabuza said.

Kakashi only nodded and pulled his headband over his eye. During the fight he had stabbed Zabuza in one of his arms, making him unable to so jutsus. Zabuza grabbed a stray kunai off the bridge from there fight and ran towards Gatou.

Gatou had run to the back of the mob for protection, but that didn't stop Zabuza. He ran through the mob killing as many as he could. He was stabbed in the back by the guards who were trying to get good with their boss.

Zabuza reached the edge of the bridge to where Gatou was standing. With a few good swipes of the kunai, he chopped the man's head off. The body flew into the sea as Zabuza himself collapsed onto the ground.

The rest of the mob stared at the scene for a little while before realizing that they were out of a job. Some of them began shouting about robbing the village. As they went forward, an arrow shot straight at them, landing short of the leader.

"You won't touch our town!" someone yelled. Naruto looked behind him to find that it was Inari and all the residents of the Wave.

Naruto grinned at them and turned towards the mob. "This is the least I can do. Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Then clones appeared next to the original. Kakashi had the same idea and also created some clones. The mob members, upon seeing the extra ninjas, turned tale and ran back towards the boat they had come on.

Now that the mob of bandits and thugs was gone, Kakashi walked over to Zabuza's body. He stooped down and picked it up and laid him down next to Haku's corpse. They would make sure that they both got a proper burial.

But right now they had more important business to attend to. Sometime during the fight, Sakura had taken Tazuna over to Sasuke's corpse. She was currently crying her heart out over his corpse, while Tazuna stood above her with an awkward and sullen look.

Naruto and Kakashi walked towards them to get some of the needles out of Sasuke's body. Looking down at him, Naruto felt guilty. His friend had died to save him.

'_Fool'_ he thought sadly '_You didn't have to do that. I wouldn't have died anyways.'_

He had just pulled out one of the senbons from his chest, when he heard a low moan. All three of them froze in place, looking towards Sasuke. Kakashi reached out again and pulled out another senbon, causing another groan from the would-be-dead boy. Sakura was ecstatic. Naruto had to literally hold her back from jumping on the boy and pushing the senbon further into his body. He was alive, and that was what mattered.

* * *

Sasuke had woken up two days after the battle on the bridge. He had been quite during the time he was up, but it really wasn't that different from how he was normally. The four of them had buried the bodies of Zabuza and Haku next to each other right next to a river. They had put Zabuza's sword and Haku's sash as grave markers.

Unknown to the others, Naruto had set up a small trap, so that if there were ever grave robbers coming for Zabuza's sword or something, they would get a large shock and a face full of kunai. The sword itself was the trigger.

After paying their respects one final time, team seven started there journey back to Konoha. The residents of the Wave had come to see them off. As they watched them go, Tazuna only had one question to ask.

"What should we name the bridge?" he asked. There was a murmur through the crowd.

One voice came up over the rest. "We should call it… the Great Naruto Bridge!" it was Inari. More murmurs, this time of consent, went through the crowd.

Tsunami smiled down at her son. She was proud that he had become so strong. It was thanks to those ninja, especially Naruto, this was why she had no problem naming the bridge after him.

Tazuna could only nod his head. It wasn't good to go against the populace. Plus, his grandson should have the chance to decide. But he couldn't help but think '_I was the one who built the damn thing, it should be named after me!'_

So after little debate (and much grumbling on Tazuna's part) the bridge was christened 'The Great Naruto Bridge'.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto had fallen behind from the group, much to Sakura's chagrin. He had simply said that he wanted to talk to Naruto for a few minutes. Naruto had no idea about what Sasuke could possibly want to talk to him about. The Kyuubi on the other hand, had a sneaking suspicion.

"How?" he asked.

"How what" Naruto asked him.

"Don't play stupid!" Sasuke hissed dangerously. "How did you make those explosions without using hand signs?"

Naruto was taken aback. He hadn't thought that this is what he wanted to ask him. Though he felt kind of stupid that he hadn't thought of this before.

"Um….well, you see…" he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. Sasuke looked at him expectantly.

"It's sort of like a bloodline, I guess." He said finally. "It something I've been working to master. The technique, if that's what you want to call it, has taken me a while to learn."

"But what did you use? I thought I saw a cloth or something." He said.

"Yea… it helps improve the strength and makes it easier to use" Naruto answered. He wasn't really lying. Without the spark cloth, he would have to make a fire of some sort. Then he would have to draw the array. With the cloth, all he had to do was snap his fingers because the array was already drawn and he had a spark.

"You said you had to learn it. Does that mean I could learn it to?" Sasuke asked. If Naruto didn't know better, he would swear that the Uchiha was practically pleading with him, in his own way.

"No." It wasn't said scathingly. He wasn't about to give him any of his secrets. It would be better for Sasuke in the end, he reminded himself. Sasuke had just a bad a past as him. Naruto had only wanted to bring back one person. If Sasuke learned of the idea to bring people back to life, Naruto was sure that he would try it out on his clan.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. He was sure he could learn whatever Naruto knew. He could Naruto compare his strength and skill to him, the number one rookie of the year. Sasuke was positive that the only reason Naruto didn't teach him the jutsu's was because he wanted a chance to be stronger than him.

'_As if that dobe could even come close to being as strong as me'_

Team seven had a long way to go before they reached Konoha.

* * *

Sorry about the delay. I wasn't here on the weekends and I was working hard in school. Not a lot of time to just sit and write.

Please review.


	11. Visitor

I swear I'm not rushing intentionally. I just can't write very good fight scenes. I had started this with the last chpater, that's why it's out so early. That, and its a little shorter than the last one.

The whole thing with Pride's eye, I had originally planned it out actually. Read the chapter and see. Play on words there.

* * *

Chapter 9

Naruto grimaced in pain as the group walked through the streets of Konoha. Ever since the fight on the bridge, his eye had been given him a stinging feeling. It only seemed to get worse the farther they went into Konoha.

"_It feels like its going to explode" _he complained.

"**Stop your whining. I'm doing the best I can to keep the pain down." **grumbled Kyuubi.

"_Well your not doing a very good job, are you?" _he snapped.

"**Fine. Let's see how well you do on your own" **he said, withdrawing his chakra. The pain seemed to double, causing him to gasp, and then grit his teeth. His team looked back at him with questioning glances.

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just put it back' _he yelled.

The Fox chuckled then pushed chakra back into Naruto's pathways. The pain subsided again.

"Oi, Naruto, you okay?" asked Kakashi.

"Yea, I just got a headache from the journey." He answered.

Kakashi paused in his step, still reading his book. "Well then, I'll dismiss you here. You have the rest of the day off, seeing as we just got back from an A-class mission. I still have to report to Hokage-sama. And I'll make sure that the mission is logged in as an A-class instead of a C." he said, before he poofed away.

"I'm gonna had over to Ichiruka, you guys want to co-…" he asked. Sakura and Sasuke were already long gone. He could still hear Sakura asking Sasuke for a date, and Sasuke denying her.

He sighed and began walking towards the Ramen stand. That was one of his favorite places to be. He would go there almost every day. It was the place he could go to think and have his favorite kind of food at the same time.

When he reached the stand he ordered his usual. As he waited for his order he began a conversation with Kyuubi.

"_What the hell is wrong with this eye? This is the longest that any kind of pain has ever lasted" _he said.

"**I'm really not sure. No matter how much chakra I use, it won't heal. I really don't know what to do"**

"_Wow this is a first. The great Kyuubi admitting he doesn't know what's going on. The world must be coming to an end."_ Naruto said, as his ramen was placed in front of him. He began eating, hearing low growls coming into his mind.

"**Don't insult me boy. I'm just trying to help. Or have we not learned our lesson from the pain before." **He added.

Naruto blanched and choked on the ramen in his mouth. He slurped up the rest of his ramen, thanked the old cook and left his money on the counter. He was tired. Even though he didn't really require that much sleep, or food for that matter, he still enjoyed it. All he wanted to do was go back to his apartment, jump onto his bed and fall asleep.

He reached his apartment building, noticing that it was strangely quite. Usually by now, the drunks were beginning to get louder. His neighbors would also probably be yelling at each other by now. Nothing. It was almost as if he had gone deaf.

"**There is something off here." **Kyuubi murmured.

"_Tell me about it. I can't hear anything" _he said.

"**Be careful. I have a really bad feeling**"

"_Right"_

He climbed the stairs slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible, which was easy because he was a ninja. He reached the top, where his apartment was located. He took the key out and slid it into the lock.

Pushing open the door, he stepped inside. His hand groped around for the light switch. Before he could flick the switch, he was pushed backwards by something. Whatever it was, it hit him hard enough to make him fall flat on his back. The thing was sitting on him.

"Little big brother's back! Hooray!" it cried. Maybe it wasn't so much of an _it. _It was more of a little girl. She looked no older than six years old. She was currently hugging him so tight that he thought he would die.

"Um…Hi there." He said, "D-do I know you from anywhere?"

She clutched him even tighter, her smile widening. She had dark brown hair, set into two braids. It looked as if she had went into his clothes draws and pulled out one of his over sized shirts.

"Do your parents know you're here" he asked, trying to get lose from her vice like grip.

Again, she didn't answer, but looked up at him with large, dark, purple…slitted…eyes. Wait. He looked again at her eyes. Hoping he saw wrong. He got out of her hug, sat up and looked back into her eyes. It was true. They were the oddest eyes he had ever seen. They kind of remained him of Kyuubi's eyes or that other guy…Pride.

"What's your name?" he demanded. He gave her the most serious face he had. She seemed unfazed by this. She smiled up at him, causing him to falter. She was really cute, in a little sister sort of way.

"Can you tell me your name please" he tried a different, more polite approach.

"The invisible man said my name was Sloth" she said.

"The invisible man?" he asked. She nodded her head.

"He was there when I came out of the scary place. He said my name was Sloth and that I should find Pride. And your him." She said giggling happily.

"Actually my name is Naruto." He said.

She only shook her head. "Nope, that's your other name. Your real name is Pride, just like mine is Sloth."

"Well if that's your 'real' name then what's your fake name?" he asked.

Her eyes became downcast. "Well…I'm not really sure. I- I can't really remember anything before the scary place. But I do remember a name that someone once said to me. They called me Nina."

"Nina….I like that name better than Sloth. So tell me, what are you doing here?"

"I don't really know" she said smiling. He deadpanned at the response. "The invisible person just said to find you, little big brother."

"Who's the invisible person?" he asked.

"I told you already. He was by the scary place" she huffed.

"Okay, okay…um, how about this. Where's the scary place?"

She visibly froze at that statement. "I-I don't want to go back there. Please, don't make me go back there." She pleaded, grabbing onto him again. "I only just got out. You can't make me go back!" She was nearly hysterical.

"Shh, shh." He patted her back trying to calm her down. "Just describe it to me. Maybe I can help you. I won't send you back there."

She calmed down enough for him to make out some words. "There was lots of others. They were stuck there too. I pushed open the big door thing. And I ran away. I-I looked back and saw the door. It was very pretty for such a scary place."

Naruto had frozen as well, seeking the Kyuubi.

"_Do you think she means the Gate?" he asked_

"**I think so. From what she is saying, it seems as though she was able to escape from it."**

"_How did she get in there in the first place?"_

"**There were always souls trapped in the gate. They were the souls that had tried human transmutation and died. They are also those who had there lives taken away from them forcefully, who never got a chance at life. They are the souls who couldn't except that they had died."**

'_So she was killed?"_

"**Most likely. She might have been. How she got out, I'll never know for sure. The only reason I can possibly think of is that, when you opened the Gate yourself, you awoke some of the resting souls. She was just lucky enough to be the one that escaped."**

"_What does that make her then? If she died so long ago, she can't be human and still be alive."_

"**That's what I was thinking. She is probably just like you. She was once human, but years in the gate turned her into a homunculus. Your transformation was just shorter."**

"_...Hn"_

Naruto looked down at the little girl, who was still clutching him tightly. If she really was just like him, he wasn't just going to leave her.

"…Just like…me" he mumbled. Nina looked up at him, her eyes still watery. "Nina, do… would you like to stay with me then?"

Her eyes brightened instantly. She smiled up at him, all hints of her previous sadness gone.

"Yes, little big brother" she said. She let go of him and started jumping around the room in her joy. He chuckled at her antics. If it was possible, she had just as much energy as him.

'_What have I gotten myself into' _he thought to himself.

The whole time she was there, his eye hadn't hurt at all.

* * *

Does a character from another show count as an OC? I loved Nina from Fullmetal Alchemist. I was so sad when she was killed off. For all those who couldn't guess, the little girl was Nina from FMA. Duh.

I really want a Beta. If anyone's interested, just send me an email through the reviews or something. But I can't pay you. You'll be paid by the fact that you get to read it faster than everyone else. Sorry.

Please review!


	12. A day out

I want to thank my new beta **SAMPSON12187.**

This will be the first beta'd chapter. Enjoy

* * *

Chapter 10

"You look funny, little big brother" Nina said, hanging from her adoptive brothers shoulders. The reason for her comment was because of Naruto's current outfit. He had decided that she couldn't just go around in his oversized shirt, so he donned a large trench coat and hat.

"That's because we are going shopping" he said.

"But why are you wearing a coat. Aren't you hot?" she asked.

He sighed and said "Some stores don't sell to me and I can't change my appearance. If I wear the coat, they might not recognize me."

They were currently walking down the street of the shopping district. Luckily for Naruto, the Hokage had given them the day off after their mission. This gave him time to set things up for Nina. He had chosen today to pick up Nina some clothes. The day had gone fairly well. As long as he wore the trench coat, none of the shop owners had known who he was.

"Hey Nina, are you hungry?" he asked

"I don't get hungry" she answered.

"I mean, do you feel like eating?" She seemed to ponder this for a minute, before nodding her head.

He smiled and headed off for his favorite Raman stand. Setting Nina down to stand next to him, he readjusted the bags in his arms. She seemed normal enough. Just another little girl, who wanted a family. He had given her his room, opting to sleep on the couch.

She had her little quirks though. She would stare off into space for a small amount of time. She also seemed to be constantly thirsty, drinking countless cups of water at a time.

His previous suspicions had been proven when they were shopping. She had come out from the changing room in a summer dress. He saw the tattoo that proved what she was. A homunculus. Just like him. He had told her that she couldn't get clothes that showed off that mark.

She was also incredibly naive. For something that was supposed to be a monster, he had never seen anyone who was as sweet as her. She seemed oblivious to half of the stuff that went on around her.

"Little big brother?"

"Hm?"

"Why is there a box following us?" she asked

It was true. Behind them was a square box, crawling towards them. Naruto sighed, while Nina smiled amusedly.

"You can come out now Konohamaru. Your disguise isn't fooling anyone." he said.

As he said these words, the box suddenly exploded. Out of the smoke came three coughing children. Naruto had met Konohamaru shortly after he had graduated from the exam. The little kid was annoying, but fun to be around.

"So you found us out –cough-, Boss" the supposed leader said. This was Konohamaru. His two friends stood behinds him, getting over the coughing fit.

"I'm Moegi"

"And I'm Udon"

"Boss! You promised you'd come play ninja with us!" Konohamaru yelled. He had met the kid a little after he graduated. It was something about attacking the Hokage. The only good thing about the kid was that he was able to pass on his ideas for the perverted ninja skills to him. Good memories.

"Can't this wait guys, I'm hungry" he pleaded.

"No. You promised ages ago. Hey… who's she?" He asked.

Nina, who had hid herself behind Naruto when they had introduced themselves, stuck her head out and smiled nervously.

"Oh. This is Nina. She's sorta my little sister." Said Naruto, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Hey, little big brother," Nina said "I want to play ninja"

"See, even she wants to play" Udon shouted.

Naruto sighed before finally nodding his head. Damn kids.

"I'll be it. You have until ten." He said

The kids quickly ran off, with Konohamaru grabbing Nina's hand and pulling her along. The whole object of the game was to hide as quickly and stealthily as possible. He began his count down as Konohamaru and Nina rounded the corner.

5…

4…

3…

2…

_WHAM_

"That hurt you little brat" someone said. Naruto stopped the countdown and ran around the same corner. Nina was being held up by her dress and Konohamaru was stuck underneath the foot of a man in what looked to be a cat suit.

"Hey, let go of them!" Naruto yelled. The man- no boy- looked back from Nina and straight at Naruto. He only looked to be a few years older than Naruto himself.

"These two ran into me. They need to be taught a lesson." He said. The girl behind him sighed. From the looks of it, this must have been an ordinary occurrence with him.

"Don't do it, Kankouro, you don't want to start trouble." she said.

"They deserve whatever happens to them" he answered.

"Little big brother, help" Nina said, struggling to get away from the boy. Konohamaru turned his back as far as he could and bit the boy's leg, causing him to lift his foot. He was able to get away, but the boy still hadn't let go of Nina.

"Get-off-me, you big meanie!" she yelled. Naruto stepped forward with a warning growl. That was his little sister he was dealing with.

As he was about to charge the boy, the weirdest thing happened. Nina melted. Her entire body, clothes included, just seemed to melt away into water.

'_That guy melted Nina!' _was his first thought. Not the brightest.

As soon as the water hit the ground, it swarmed around itself and started creating a form. As quickly as it happened, Nina was on the floor with wide eyes. As soon as she regained her sense, she darted up and ran over to Naruto.

The two ninja's, from the Sand judging from their forehead protectors, looked in awe at the girl hiding behind Naruto's leg.

"H-how did you do that?" Naruto asked. She looked up at him and shook her head. Even she didn't fully know.

Before he could ask anything else, another person decided to make his presence known. He was using his chakra to keep himself attached to the underside of a tree. He had red hair and a tattoo that read 'love'. The oddest thing about him was the fact that he carried a large gourd on his back.

"Kankouro, you are an embarrassment to the village. Stop now before I kill you." Both ninja froze at the arrival of this third person. Even Naruto had to admit, he had a dangerous presence about him.

"**Look who decided to show his flea ridded face."** said the Kyuubi, chuckling in the back of Naruto's mind.

"_You know this guy."_ asked Naruto.

"**Yes and no. I don't know the red head, but he's actually just like you"**

"_How so?"_

"**He's a demon vessel"**

There was a long awkward silencebetween the two. This was the first time that Naruto had seen another vessel. He had heard that there were others like him, being given the burden of a demon, by the Kyuubi. This boy in front of him, looked about his age, if not a little younger.

"_What demon is in him? Is it as strong as you?"_

"**It is the demon raccoon, Shakaku. And no, he is not as strong as me."** He said proudly. "**That damn raccoon was always a little crazy. If you look at the vessel, it seems like he hasn't let the boy go to sleep. If he did fall asleep, Shakaku would probably possess him and go on a rampage."**

"Shakaku…" he murmured to himself.

The redhead swiveled around, glaring at the blond, but Naruto could see a hidden fear in his eyes. The redhead was about to ask him something but Naruto just put on his largest grin.

"I guess you guys are here for the chunin exam. Maybe I'll see you there" he then turned to the kids who were still standing behind him, looking warily at the foreigners. "Come on you guys, where go away from these psychopaths. We wouldn't want to get in trouble with the Hokage." The kids nodded and ran in the other direction.

Naruto was about to follow when the redhead called out to him. "My name is Gaara of the desert. I hope to face you in the exams …"

"Uzumaki. Uzumaki Naruto. I'm not sure if I'll be in the exams this year, but hopefully we'll meet again. We're more alike then you think" he said and went off after the two, leaving the redhead, Gaara to ponder his words.

"Come on, lets go back to the hotel room" said Gaara.

"That was so cool!" yelled an excited Konohamaru "How did you do that?"

Nina looked away sheepishly. She really didn't know.

"Hey guys. It's getting late. Me and Nina are going to head home." said Naruto. They had been playing ninja all day after the encounter with the foreign ninja. The other children waved goodbye and headed off.

Naruto turned to Nina, a serious expression on his face. "Nina, how did you do that before?"

Once again Nina looked down nervously. "I don't know. It just happened."

"_It must have been like a defense or something. Kinda like me and the sword thing."_

"**I agree. She didn't seem to know what she did until after she regained her original form."**

"_Do you think she could do it again?"_

"**Maybe. But you should ask her, not me"**

"Nina, could you do it again?" he asked her.

She looked up at him, and nodded her head. She looked back down and raised her hand in front of her face. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture water, but nothing happened.

"I can't do it" she said.

"Um… try to think what you felt like when you did it last time. You know, when the kid in the suit grabbed you." He suggested. She closed her eyes again and concentrated. She thought back to the boy in the cat suit. He didn't really scare her though, but his eyes reminded him of something that did. He was scared.

She wasn't sure of what, but he was scared for his life. It must have been bad. From what she could remember of the Gate, the others that were still trapped there always had a look of either fear of anger. It was the fear of the unknown. They didn't know what would happen to them. Sometimes, a few of the eyes would simply close, and the rest would never see them again. That was what scared her the most.

"Nina! You did it!" Naruto yelled. Indeed she had. Her hand and most of her arm had turned a clear liquid. Naruto reached out his hand to touch her arm. It went right through. He retracted his hand, to find that it was wet.

"That's amazing Nina, you should practice that." He said, still examining her arm.

She lightened up at the compliment and nodded her head vigorously. If it made her brother proud, she would work on it. She concentrated again, this time on the happiness she felt, and watched as her arm returned to normal.

'_For little big brother. I'll protect him with this power.' _She thought.

"How about that Ramen I promised." He said while smiling. She grabbed his hand and pulled him off towards their favorite place to eat.

* * *

"You have to stay here, Nina" trying desperately to unattached the little girl on his leg.

"You said you wouldn't leave me, little big brother" she shouted, gripping his leg even tighter.

"I'll be back a little later. I have to go meet my team." Naruto tried to explain. The girl had thrown herself at him and attached herself to his leg as soon as he mentioned leaving to train.

"B-but… I'll come with you then" she said, crying.

"You can't. It's official business. It's my job, not to mention it might be dangerous" he said '_Though most of the time we're stuck with weeding missions and stuff like that.' "_I promise I'll be back in a few hours, there are plenty of things to do while I'm gone. You can go out and play, just make sure you don't show anyone that trick with the water, Okay?"

She sniffled a few times, but never the less, let go of his leg. "Don't worry, I will be back" he said

He went through the door, looking back at the girl who had gotten up and went back to her room. Sighing, he closed the door and made his way over to his usual training spot. Coming closer to the bridge, he saw Sasuke and Sakura standing there. Kakashi wasn't there, but that wasn't really a surprise.

"Good morning!" he yelled.

Sakura, who had seemed to have been trying to talk to Sasuke, turned around looking annoyed, but waved to him. Sasuke just grunted in response. He knew he was late by there standards, but he was busy and as long as Kakashi wasn't there, he was fine.

They waited for about an hour before they heard the familiar poof that signaled their sensei had arrived.

"Yo!" Kakashi said. In one hand he had that orange book, not even looking at them.

"You're late!" yelled Sakura and Naruto.

"Sorry, sorry, but I have good news." He said, "I recommended you guys for the Chunin exams."

Naruto jumped up and down as he grabbed the form from his teacher. This was his chance at moving up in the ranks.

"In other news, I have also managed to get us a mission," said Kakashi.

'_Please don't be a D-ranked mission' _they all thought.

"The mission is to clean up Konoha Main River. It might take a while so let's get moving." All three faces turned downcast at the thought of another low ranked 'mission', if you could even call it that.

'_At least I'll get to go up against that Gaara guy with the demon. This could be fun' _Naruto thought, as they walked towards the river.

* * *

Another chapter out.

I hope you enjoyed it. Please Review.


	13. Training rights

As to the Chunin Exam, a lot of people have been asking me to hurry it up. I agree with you. But it is a part that any author must eventually come by if s/he is starting from the beginning of the story. (Except maybe crossover or later years) Bear with it; I'll try to move on with the First part of the exam.

I can't believe how long it took me to update this.

"talking"

"**demon talking"**

'_thoughts'_

'_**demon thoughts'**_

_Pride talking

* * *

_

Chapter 11

The mission didn't take as long as Naruto had expected. With the Chunin exam form in hand, he made his way back to his apartment. This exam was definitely a good thing for him. Ever since Nina came along, things seemed to have been going his way. He wasn't so lonely anymore and he even met new people. Not to mention the fact that his eye hadn't been bothering him lately.

He climbed the stairs to his apartment door quickly. There was no telling what Nina might do. He took the key to the lock out of his pocket and inserted it into the door. He braced himself for whatever lay beyond. Naruto swung open the door only to be greeted with………nothing.

Nothing was out of place. Nothing was broken. The stove was off, couch was still there, the plates and dishes were still intact. The only thing wrong was the fact that Nina wasn't there.

"Nina? I'm home!" he called, as he set down his jacket on the couch. Not hearing a reply, he walked into the kitchen. Naruto went over to the sink to wash some of the gook off of his hands. Some of the stuff they threw out there was pretty gross. He turned on the cold water faucet only for it to clog.

Naruto sighed. Sometimes the landlord would shut off the water just to annoy him. '_One day, I'll get my own house, without these stupid people around.'_

As he walked away to talk to talk to the landlord about the water, he heard an odd churning. Naruto looked back to the sink. Out of the nozzle, a large shape was floating overhead. Taking water from the now running faucet, the shape added more and more to it. Soon it landed on the floor, taking a more distinctive shape.

"Look what I learned" said the water, in a familiar voice.

"N-Nina!"

"Yea, I practiced all day while you were gone. My whole body can turn to water. Isn't it great?" she said. She had now completed her form.

"That's amazing Nina." he said, "we should train together to see what else we can do."

She hopped onto his back and they made their way out of the door

* * *

"Left"

_Whack_

"No I meant your other left"

_Crack_

"What if I did this, little big brother?"

_Splash_

"It means I get soaked." Naruto sighed, completely drenched. "It looks like whenever your hit, your body forms into water and regroups. Kinda like a defense."

He threw a kunai at her. As it hit, it slowed down, until it dropped harmlessly though her body. The part of the body that was hit, only sewed back together. Nina patted her stomach, where it had hit.

"What about you, little big brother? Your gloves don't work on me." She asked.

"I didn't think they would. If we ever get into a serious spar, then I'd have to use a different method." He said

"You could still beat me though. That's because big brother's the best." she said.

"Hey you two, get off out training ground." A voice interrupted. Both of them looked back to see two bays, probably genin, if their forehead protectors were correct.

"What makes you think this is yours? We were here first." said Naruto.

"Because, pipsqueak, we need to train for the Chunin exam, so we have priority over you." said the first genin.

Naruto anger had risen at the pipsqueak comment. Nina knew that an explosion was coming, but was surprised when Naruto calmly answer the boy.

"Well what do you know, so am I. And since we were here first, you two jerks can just get lost." He answered.

The two genins eyes narrowed. They were being insulted by one, considerably shorter, genin, who also happened to be the object of hate for their parents. The boy did what anyone who was being insulted would have done. The genin punched him. Hard.

Naruto was sent reeling back a few feet. His anger was rising to a whole new level. It wasn't that the punch had actually hurt, but the fact that the bay had the nerve to do it. To make it worse, his eye was starting to hurt him again.

_You know you want to._

'_NO!'_

_It isn't that hard. They are weak._

'_I won't'_

"Let him go!" said one of the boys.

Naruto looked up from the ground and saw the two boys. The genin that had punched him was being held up in the air with a bubble of water surrounding his head. It occurred to him that the genin couldn't breathe. He was gasping for breath, while the trail of water stayed firm in place. Naruto's eyes followed the trail of the water back to Nina.

One of her arms had become transparent. What was worse was her eyes. They had become cold and hardened the pupils more slitted in shape. This was not good.

"No one…no one will hurt my brother." The grip of the water tightened, to genin turning paler by the second.

If Naruto didn't do something soon, the genin would die.

"Nina" he said firmly. She didn't relent in her attack, simply smirking.

"Nina, you have to stop. He didn't hurt me" he pleaded. That didn't reach her. She was still constricting the water around the genins head. The other genin had abandoned his partner, running back into the village.

By now the poor boy was barely holding onto consciousness, grasping at the water. Naruto was beginning to panic. If she killed him, they would blame it on him as well, and the Council might take Nina away from him.

"NINA, you have to stop this now!" he yelled, but to no avail "NINA" '_Damnit, what can I do?'_

"SLOTH!" he screamed. Naruto watched her eyes widen in realization, as she dropped the now unconscious genin onto the ground.

"I didn't mean to" she said tearing, her hand going back into its solid from. She ran over to him and began sobbing into his shirt.

"I know" he whispered to her, trying to calm her down. He picked her up and brought her over with him as he checked the genin's pulse. It was still there, and going strong. Naruto guessed that he would wake up in an hour or two. For now he had to get Nina away.

"Is he going to be ok?" came Nina's timid voice from her position against his shoulder. She looked scared at the thought that she hurt someone, maybe even killed.

"Don't worry, he'll wake up soon." He said reassuringly. '_I can't just leave him here out in the open.'_ Rearranging Nina onto his back, he slowly dragged the genin into a bush. '_That should work until he wakes up'_

With that done, he started sprinting back to the apartment. Nina had fallen asleep from crying so much, or he surmised that was what caused it. For all he knew, it might have been from using her 'power' on the boy for so long. Whatever the cause, she was now resting peacefully on his back as he made it to his apartment.

Going through the door, he made his way into her room. Placing her gently on the bed, he covered her up, and made his way to the living room. The room itself was connected to the rest of the house, but that was to be expected from the tiny apartment. He flopped down onto the couch and tried to sort out his thoughts. Nina was dangerous. He knew that when he met her and knew that when he decided to take her in. That wouldn't change. But he wasn't about to give up on her.

But she had never had such a horrible relapse before. She had never attacked someone so harshly before. And the worst part was that Naruto knew that, given the chance, she would have let the genin die a slow, painful death. That in itself, made Naruto shiver. He was a shinobi. He should be used to death. It was what he would be required to do as he rose in the ranks.

Then again, he hadn't killed yet. That is what's bothering him. The fact that a little girl (No matter what she was, he reminded himself) would have blood on her hand before him. His musings followed this trail of thought as he drifted off to sleep.

He hated birds.

Correction. He hated them in the morning when he was trying to sleep. He slowly sat up and stretched, frowning when he found that his back was sore. Naruto's mind was still fuddled. He looked over to the clock over the kitchen, finding it to be almost 8:00.

Groaning, he got up off the coach and went over to Nina's room. She was already up, playing with her crayons and paper. She smiled up at him. It was one of those 'I know something you don't' smiles.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Do you know what today is?" she asked. He looked down at her, confused. He then made his way over to her calendar.

'_The 15th? So what'_ He thought about the date some more before coming to the painful realization. "THE EXAM!"

He ran out of the room, listening to Nina laugh as he went to get changed.

-----------------------

"You're late Naruto" said Sakura, standing next to an irate looking Sasuke.

" Aha…sorry, I forgot the day," he answered, as he slowed to a stop in front of them. She rolled her eyes at his answer. After their time at the Wave, she had seen him as more than a loud mouth idiot. He was willing to protect his friends, and stand for his morals. That was something she could respect, even if he did annoy her sometimes.

"Whatever, let's get going already" said Sasuke, as he pushed himself up off the wall he was leaning against.

And with that, Team Seven entered the building.

-----------------------

Very short in my standards, but I have to get back into the story after being gone all summer. Please review.

After reading the newest chapters, I have decided that I really like Sakura's character depth. I want to expand on team seven in this fic, so I'll go deeper as time goes on.

And I started a writing journal in lj. The link is in my profile. Go over and give a prompt, and I'll try to write it out.


	14. The First Exam

Took me long enough, huh. Think of it as an early Christmas gift from me to you. The next chapter probably won't be up until after the New Year.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. The only thing I own is the plot for this story.

* * *

"What do you think we have to do?" asked Sakura, walking up the stairs. Looking back to her two other teammates, she noted their silence. Surprisingly, Naruto was silent. Sasuke, even though silence was a usual for him, looked at his feet as he walked.

"Come on now. It can't be that bad…can it?" she said, jokingly. Still noting their silence she stopped talking and looked forward.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, we can pass it!" said Naruto. There was the blond she remembered. But she couldn't stop worrying. No matter what she did, she couldn't help but think what the Exam entailed. It could be just like the Mist Genin exam, where they had to kill their opponent to pass. She had to worry.

"We'll get past this" added Sasuke, smirking slightly.

"…ah." Smiling again, they continued their journey up the stairs. Coming up to the landing, they heard many murmurs coming from up ahead.

"What's going on" Naruto asked.

"I don't know, but let's find out"

"We're saving you from embarrassing yourselves and the village" a voice said, "We've taken this exam before and it's really hard. You're better off giving up now, while you're still alive."

Two kids, about their age, stood in on front of the doorway. The doorway to where the exam was taking place.

"Sasuke, Naruto, so you see-"

"Oi, bastard, what the hell are you blocking the door for?!" yelled Naruto to the two kids at the door.

"I guess not" sighed Sakura. She heard Sasuke sigh audibly as well.

"Naruto, this isn't even the right floor. Am I right?" Sasuke directed the last part of the question to the two.

"We've got a smart one this year. Seeing through the illusion isn't enough." As he said this, he rushed over and dropped into a spin kick. Seeing the attack coming, Sasuke shifted his foot back and put his arms up to catch and then counter the kick. Said attack did not come.

In between them, where before was empty space, now stood the oddest looking kid whom Naruto had ever seen. The boy himself wore a green body suit with clashing orange leg warmers. That was not the most surprising thing about the boy. He had been able to stop both attacks at the same time. And Naruto knew that attacks from Sasuke could hurt, seeing as he had been on the receiving end of them many times.

"You shouldn't fight until the actual exam" the green suited boy said. Letting go of both Sasuke and his attacker, the green suited boy stepped back.

"I'm Rock Lee! Konoha's Green Beast." The boy, Lee, introduced himself.

"Lee…" Two more people came up from behind team seven. Naruto and Sakura didn't even sense them until one of them spoke.

"I though you didn't want to draw attention to us?" asked the girl. Her other teammate, a Hyuuga if the blank eyes were anything to tell by, stood quietly off to her side.

"I'm sorry Tenten" Lee said "but I couldn't condone fighting in these sacred halls of learning."

"I'm sorry for my teammate's behavior" said the Hyuuga. Though the comment was offhand, Naruto could sense the air of superiority in his words. '_Uptight prick.'_ Naruto didn't even know him for five minutes, and I could already tell that this guy was just like Sasuke.

"Neji…" Tenten said. Sighing at both her teammates, she turned around to Sasuke. "Excuse us"

And with that she dragged both her teammates up through the, recently unveiled, stairway.

"Well…..that was weird." Naruto's teammates could only nod their heads.

"For him to be able to stop both those attacks that kid in green must be pretty good." said Sakura.

"I wonder who his sensei is." replied Sasuke.

Continuing down the hallway, Naruto could finally see the door to their room. Stopping in front of the door, he turned to his two teammates.

"You guys ready?" he asked.

With a nod and a smile, all three of them walked through the doors.

* * *

When Naruto thought of the Chunin exams, the first thing that came to his mind was fighting. Then maybe pain. Not his though. This wasn't anything liked he imagined.

The room was small. It actually reminded him of his school room with Iruka-sensei. The desks were faced towards a smaller desk in front of the room. The people glaring at them as they stepped through the door didn't help his unease.

Apparently, the people lost interest in them, as they went back to talking with their groups.

"Well look who showed up. I thought you would have failed, idiot" Kiba said. He came up right behind team seven, followed by Hinata, Shino, and his puppy, Akamaru.

"Really? That's what I thought about you." He replied. These conversations were never serious. They had known each other throughout the Academy days. Because of both their horrible grades, he and Kiba have been friends.

"H-hello Naruto-kun" came a soft voice from behind Kiba. Kiba turned to allow Hinata through. She was always so shy and withdrawn. Don't get him wrong, Naruto thought Hinata was a sweet enough girl, it was just she was also weird to him.

"Hey Hinata, how are you?" he said, smiling at her.

She replied by blushing madly and an almost inaudible 'fine'

Their third teammate scared Naruto. From what he had seen at the academy, Shino was a decent guy, but being that quiet wasn't natural. It also didn't help that Naruto had seen him talking to nothing a couple of times.

"How troublesome. Look who else is here." Coming towards them was Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino. Shikamaru and Chouji, likewise, had been his friends through the Academy. Ino was Sakura's old friend, so Naruto figured she couldn't be that bad.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino squealed, launching and attaching herself to Sasuke's neck. Then again, he could be wrong.

"Ino, leave Sasuke-kun alone." said Sakura, glaring heatedly at Ino.

"Do you mind keeping it down, you're giving the other teams a headache."

All the rookies turned towards a smiling young man. The young man had odd silver hair and glasses. He looked a little older than all the rookies. As if waking up, the rookies felt a tense aura around the room. Looking around, others were indeed glaring at them for the noise they were making.

"uh….sorry" said Ino, un-attaching herself from Sasuke.

"My name's Kabuto" The rookies nodded to him.

"You should be more careful. The people participating in the exam tend to go after the one's who piss them off. I've taken this exam before, so I can tell you a lot about them" he laughed nervously.

"**_Something's off…"_**

"All right scum, pick a number and take your seats. The Exams about to begin"

* * *

'_A writing exam?! What the hell, I thought this was supposed to be a **ninja **exam!'_

In the back of his mind Naruto could swear he heard laughing.

'_shit. Shit. SHIT. I don't know any of this crap. Why do I need to know about kunai trajectory? I just aim and throw.'_

The rules were pretty straight forward. Answer the questions and your team passes to the next part of the exam. Don't answer, you get kicked out. A lot of people were getting thrown out before hand, but Naruto didn't even bother paying attention to them.

'_Hey fox, help out a friend?'_ he said sheepishly.

"**How do you expect me to know this?"** he replied.

'_You're a demon. You're supposed to be all knowing or something!'_ he yelled.

"**Heh, sorry. My method of attack against humans is to step on them….or eat them."**

'_What help are you.'_

Time was almost up. Looking down at his paper, Naruto realized he had only one hope. The Tenth Question. If he got that right, then maybe they could advance to the next round.

"Pen's down" said the proctor.

'_This guy is seriously creepy. What's with the trench coat?'_

Morino Ibiki surveyed the group before him. More than half had already been eliminated. It was this question that would finally decide who was really worthy to go forward.

"Before I ask the second question, I need to know if any of you don't want to take it." He said

Some people scoffed. Why would they pass a chance to get a higher grade?

Smirking to himself, Ibiki said "You should understand. If you get this question wrong, you will never be promoted to Chunin."

"But sensei! You can't do that. There are people here who have taken the test before-"

"You are just unlucky enough to have me proctor. Tell me now if you don't want to take the test. You can always take it next year if you give up now." he said.

'_I don't want Naruto to give up his dream for this. We can try next year'_ though Sakura. Just as she was about to raise her hand, she felt as though someone was staring at her. Looking around, bother Sasuke and Naruto were looking at her. Naruto shook his head in a silent plead not to do it. Smiling at his courage, she lowered her hand onto the table.

Time went by, and more and more teams were disqualified.

"Is there anyone else? No? Good. Congratulations, you pass."

The silence was audible. But it was the quiet before the storm, as yells came from the participants.

"The reason you passed was because you were brave enough to take the risk. Those others weren't willing to put their positions on the line and were kicked out because of it. When you're a ninja, you need to be able to take risks to complete the mission."

Continuing his explanation was not to be. The crashing of the windows and the flying of kunai was enough to see through that.

"I'm Mitarashi Anko, the Second examiner! If you'll follow me we'll--- What?! What's this Ibiki, there's still 18 teams here. That's 54 people!" she said, looking over to Ibiki.

"It's an interesting group this year." He answered.

Sighing loudly she said "Whatever, everyone get up off your asses and follow me to the second testing site."

* * *

There was a reason that this forest was called the Forest of Death. Naruto could have sworn he saw something big slither to one of the western gates. He hoped to God that he didn't end up there.

"Each team will get either a scroll of heaven or a scroll of earth. The object of this game is to get the other scroll and get to the tower before five days pass. Oh! And killing is allowed." From the way Anko talked about the second test, it was like talking about a game of Shogi or the weather.

'_How is this a game?'_ Naruto thought.

"I'll go get us a scroll" said Sasuke. As he walked away towards the stand, Sakura excused herself to go and talk to Ino. Even though they fought for Sasuke's attention, they still talked like they used to.

'_I'll never understand girls and their weird friendships'_ he thought to himself.

"Do you have to go into there, big brother?"

"Yea, Though it looks pretty creepy, right Ni-" he stopped and looked down. Nina stood there smiling up at him.

"Why are you here?!" he whispered fiercely, picking her up and running behind a near by tree.

"I got really bored and I wanted to come see you" she said.

"Nina, this isn't a place for you to play. You could get hurt if you go in there." He said seriously.

"Don't worry about me. If anything happens, I can turn to water and run away." She said proudly. " 'sides, if big brother need's help, then I'll be there."

Laughing weakly at her, Naruto kneeled down.

"Nina, you can't go in there….um, there are giant monsters that like to eat little girls like you." He said waving his hands around.

"You're just saying that 'cause you don't want me going" she said, puffing out her cheeks.

"Yea…" he sighed. "Really Nina, you can't come in with me. I don't want you getting hurt."

She looked down at he feet, staying silent. But that was fine. With Nina, Naruto knew that silence meant she understood. Giving her a quick pat on the head, Naruto stood up and made his way over towards his team, who seemed to be looking for him.

"Ready to go?" he asked happily.

"Naruto! Where were you? We're about to start." Said Sakura.

"Just making sure I have everything." He said.

As Sasuke and Sakura turned and began walking towards their gate, Naruto patted down his pockets, making sure he had his special cloth with him. He probably wouldn't need it, but you never knew. It was better safe then sorry.

Still behind the tree, Nina pulled herself to her feet.

'_I never said I wouldn't go. I'll just have to male sure big brother doesn't see me.'_ She thought, smiling. Practically melting down into the ground, she slid towards the starting gate.

But Nina wasn't the only one planning on following. With the starting whistle going off, all the teams sped into the forest.

A lone figure stood against the rock, not facing the proctors.

"Interesting indeed." And that form too, disappeared.

* * *

Gee, I'm so original. /sarcasm.

Rest assured, after this chapter, the story will begin to diverge from original canon, earning its title and an AU fic.

Reviews and constructive criticism would be nice. They actually remind me that I'm still working on this story and that I should "Hurry up already!"

So yea… I'm also going to continue uploading onto my live journal writing account. I kinda forgot about it…oops?

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	15. Into the Woods

I'm not dead. I swear. A zombie….maybe. I'm not really sure anymore. When was the last time I updated this thing? Christmas? I've been so amazingly busy, it's not even funny. It doesn't help that the latest chapters are making me lose interest in _Naruto._ (

Usual disclaimers apply.

* * *

'_Did we pass this tree already'_

Naruto sat on the stump of a tree that looked like it had been blown apart by…something powerful. Possibly from the last exam.

"We've been here before" said Sasuke, inspecting the mushrooms that littered the glade across from the blown apart tree. "I remember seeing these earlier."

"Do you think it's a genjutsu?" asked Sakura. She pushed her fingers together and released chakra in order to check. Nothing happened.

"I think Sasuke just likes leading us into circles" said Naruto, laughing at the glare that earned him from both his teammates."

"I think we should go up higher. At least that way we can see farther away and scout for opponents." suggested Sakura.

"Sounds good to me!" said Naruto, leaping from his stump and up onto another tree's branches. Sakura and Sasuke shared a look before following him up.

Climbing up higher into the canopy of the forest they were able to see evidence of fights that had occurred around them.

"How long has it been since the beginning of the second exam?"

"About 3 days, I think."

"We need to stop screwing around and find another team that has the Earth scroll. Fast." said Sasuke.

"How fortunate. It seems we want the same thing. Well- maybe not exactly the same" a voice chuckled a voice from behind them. Three ninja's melded out of the trees behind them. Their headband showed that they were from the Rain country. "We need the Heaven scroll. Hand it over please."

"Not a chance." said Sakura, pulling out a kunai from her pouch and holding it out in front of her.

"That's too bad. It looks like we'll have to use force." said on of them. It was hard to tell which one had said it because they wore masks that covered their mouths. Naruto instantly thought of Kakashi.

"**Rain is such an interesting country. It has an amazing view of the Ocean"**

'_Don't care'_

"**How mean"**

"Pay attention idiot!" yelled Sasuke as he pushed Naruto out of the path of a kunai.

'_See! This is why you don't talk to me in a fight. I can't concentrate.'_ he yelled at Kyuubi.

Naruto bounded off the tree, landing on his feet. Taking out a kunai of his own, he signaled for Sasuke and Sakura to move away from their opponents. They jumped back as the rain ninja melded back into the trees with a spray of senbons.

"We don't know their skills, so be careful." Sasuke reminded them.

"Well duh" answered Naruto rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, both of you!" Sakura whispered harshly. "Listen. Do you hear that?"

Naruto and Sasuke stopped and listened in the direction that the Rain ninjas disappeared to.

"What are they doing? They're giving their positions away to us" whispered Sasuke.

As he said this, two of the ninjas were catapulted out of the trees and onto the ground before them, unconscious. Both of them were soaking wet.

'_Oh no….please tell me she didn't.'_

The third and final ninja was thrown in front of them with the Earth Scroll sticking out of his pocket. Naruto couldn't help but feel somewhat proud even though she went against his wishes.

"You guys grab the scroll, I'm going to check out what happened." he said to his team.

"Are you crazy!? Whatever's out there just took out three ninjas! It might be another team." said Sakura, grabbing his arm.

"But why would another team leave the scroll. Even if they had the same scroll, it would make more sense to destroy the scroll and cut down a potential team." said Sasuke, his eyebrows scrunched in thought.

"Don't worry, I won't get hurt. If it's another team, I won't attack. Just stay here." said Naruto, pulling his arm out of Sakura's grasp. With those last words, he leaped into the trees where the Rain ninjas had originally come from. Standing in the middle of the area, so he could be easily heard, he called out to her.

"Nina" he said quietly.

No one answered.

"I'm not mad, Nina. Just come out." he pleaded.

No one answered, again.

"Okay look. Just… head home. Please. I mean- Thanks for the help, but we want to do this ourselves. We won't feel like we deserve this if you do this for us. And I don't want you to get hurt either." he said.

"…okay"

Naruto turned around to face the small form between two adjacent trees. He smiled at her as she slipped back into her watery form and headed away from him, towards the entrance of the forest. Or at least, where he thought the entrance was. At this point, Naruto couldn't tell where he was. He hoped that Nina had a better sense of direction then he did.

Scratching the back of his head and sighing softly, Naruto made his way back to where his teammates were. When he got there he saw that they had tied up the three Rain ninja to a tree. They were still unconscious, which was good. At least they wouldn't be able to explain what had happened.

"What did you find?" asked Sasuke.

"There was nothing there. Whatever attacked them is long gone" '_Home, I hope'_

"We have the scroll. We shouldn't look the gift horse in the mouth. Let's get to the tower." suggested Sakura.

"But it doesn't make sense. How do we even know that that's the actual scroll? It could be a trick. Whoever did this might have made a fake scroll. We'll get to the tower without the requirements." said Sasuke.

"How can we tell? They said not to open it until the tower. If this _is_ the real thing, they we could get disqualified." said Sakura.

"It's the real thing." cut in Naruto. When they looked at him incredulously, he quickly added, "Just trust me okay? I think whoever did this is on our side. They would have attacked us when we were separated if they weren't."

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, still wary of the scroll in Sakura's hand.

"…fine. But if we come across another team we should try to get their scroll just in case." said Sasuke. Sakura nodded, agreeing with his idea.

Sakura placed the scroll into her kunai pouch. Looking at each other once again, they head off into the direction of the tower.

* * *

"Did you see what happened to those Rain ninjas we hired?"

"Not really, Lord Orochimaru. They just seemed to start choking. It seemed that they were almost…drowning were they stood. Their body language suggested asphyxiation consistent with drowning. All of a sudden they were thrown out of the canopy."

"That's good enough, Kabuto. We'll have to watch out. And I'll have to act soon. They have the last scroll, so they'll start heading to the tower. You should start heading over there as well. We wouldn't want you to get _disqualified._"

"Of course."

* * *

"It was _Gross!_" said Sakura, shuddering from the memory.

"What are you talking about!? That thing was awesome. I've never seen one that big!" said Naruto.

"Shut up, idiot. You're too loud." groaned Sasuke.

"_You_ shut up, bastard!" yelled Naruto.

'_Not again' _thought Sakura.

"So loud." drawled a voice behind them. Team 7 turned around to face a single ninja.

"Is it just me or do we really suck at noticing people around us?" asked Naruto.

"**I don't like this guy. Be careful. His chakra is extremely high for a human.**" said Kyuubi.

'_How much stronger?'_ asked Naruto

"**Your teacher has nothing on this guy."**

'_Well shit'_

"I can make this easy for you. Hand over your scroll and I will kill you quickly." the enemy said.

"Isn't it supposed to be '_or_ I kill you'?" asked Sasuke, sliding into a defensive stance.

The enemy ninja, who seemed to be from Grass country, simply chuckled.

"How funny. However, those are the terms." he said, licking his lips. The three of them shuddered when they saw just how long that tongue was. It reminded Naruto of a snake's tongue.

Next thing they knew, the ninja had disappeared from his original place. Naruto tensed as he looked around for him. There was no seeable trail. It was like the enemy ninja disappeared into thin air.

It was only the sound of an intake of breath and a fleshy 'thump' that allowed him to locate the enemy ninja.

Sasuke fell to the ground as the Grass ninja's knee connected with his stomach. Retching onto the ground, Sasuke grasped the area that was hit.

Sakura, seeing him fall to the ground hurled a kunai towards the ninja, forcing him to jump away from Sasuke.

"Are you okay!?" she shrieked, as she ran over to him and knelt down.

"Y-yeah. He just surprised me." he wheezed. "He has a powerful kick."

"How interesting. Most people would be unable to move so soon from something like that." said the Grass ninja, laughing.

Naruto moved in front of Sakura and Sasuke, between them and the enemy ninja.

"Sakura, help Sasuke and get out of here. I'll distract him." he said quietly, his eyes never leaving the Grass ninja.

"What are you talking about!?" said Sakura, looking at him as if he was crazy.

"He's a lot stronger than he looks. We can't beat him." he said seriously. He reached into his pockets and started to maneuver his gloves on. Naruto hoped that he wouldn't need to use them with Sakura and Sasuke in sight.

"If _we_ can't beat him, what makes you think you alone could." said Sasuke as he tried to stand up.

"I never said I was trying to beat him. Just trying to distract him so-"

"How rude. It's not polite to talk between yourselves when someone else is here." teased the enemy ninja.

"Just _GO" _Naruto said.

"We're not leaving you here, Naruto!" yelled Sakura, her madness clearly visible at the thought of leaving him to fight by himself. Sasuke's glare said the same thing.

Naruto sighed at his teammate's stubbornness, though part of him was touched that his team cared so much about him.

Sighing to himself, he put his hands together and created two Kage Bunshins. Without even telling them what to do, they turned around and picked up Sakura and Sasuke and darted off farther into the woods.

"I put enough chakra into them so that they won't disappear to soon." he explained to the enemy ninja, so he wouldn't think they were coming back.

"Very noble. Unfortunately, you are not the one I'm looking for. I'll have to kill you here quickly so I can go and catch your friend, Sasuke."

Naruto eyes narrowed.

"What do you want with him." he asked

"Ah! I said too much." The Grass ninja laughed. "Not that it matters anyways. I'm going to kill you." He disappeared.

This time, Naruto knew what to expect. He ducked down as an arm above him thrust a kunai into the space where his head used to be. Lunging sideways, he put space between them. Naruto brought his now gloved hand out in front of him as the enemy ninja straightened out of his lunging stance.

"You're very fast, aren't you, you bastard." he hissed.

Once again, the enemy ninja just chuckled maliciously. That laugh was starting to really to really piss him off.

"Like I said, I don't have time to play with you. The exam is almost up, so I need to finish before the end."

"Bastard, I won't let you past me." said Naruto, as he held up his gloved hand in snapping position.

This seemed to be even funnier, because the Grass ninja started full blown laughing. "And just what do you think that's going to do? I've dealt with techniques that use sound, boy. You could say that I deal with…_Sound_ quite often."

"Well then. How lucky for me that this has nothing to so with sound." he smirked as his fingers snapped together. The friction of the gloves sparked the air, leading in a fiery line straight to the offending ninja.

Seeing the line of fire coming at him, the ninja jumped out of the way. The following explosion, however, caught him completely off guard. The explosion took out the entire area where the ninja had been standing. The surrounding tree continued burning.

Coughing as he sat up, Naruto mentally reminded himself that he should remember to stand farther away from the target next time.

'_Man that was awesome! I didn't think it would be that powerful!'_

"**Don't get too relaxed. That attack didn't kill him…I don't sense his chakra nearby anymore. I think you should get to the tower. You'll be safer there in case he comes back."**

'_My clones are already there. So are Sakura and Sasuke. The clones are pretty battered though. Sakura sure can pack a punch.' _he chuckled.

Naruto leapt up from his sitting position and started sprinting towards the tower. Hopefully he could get there before someone discovered his team in their hiding place.

At least they had the scrolls. Though something told him this was going to be an even long exam after this part.

* * *

The black bird above him squawked once. The fox that soon sat in it's place, jumped down to the forest floor and followed.

* * *

Please review. I know the chapters are pretty short, but this is all I have time for right now. Enjoy guys! 


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